Best PlacesFern, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Fern, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Fern ranks 10,790th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and walkability ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Fern
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Fern's strengths and weaknesses
Where Fern ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 94% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 90% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 85% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 83% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 81% of towns
Where Fern ranks low
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 22% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 27% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 33% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Fern
A household needs to earn about $43,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Fern home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $73,010, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Fern's effective rate of 0.92%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Fern
Fern runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Fern.
Who works in Fern, and how
Work in Fern centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Fern
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Fern.
What the weather is like in Fern, month by month
Fern sees roughly 77 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 26° | 19° |
| April | 60° | 48° | 37° |
| July | 82° | 71° | 60° |
| October | 64° | 52° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Fern
The nearest airport, Dubois Regional, is about 34 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 67 miles away.
The best schools in and around Fern
Schools across Fern average a B, better than 74% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Keystone El SchA · 70% proficient
- Cranberry El SchB · 49% proficient
Top high schools
- Cranberry Area JshsB · 47% proficient
- Keystone JshsB− · 42% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Fern school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Fern measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Fern against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Fern
Is Fern a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Fern ranks 10,790th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on heat safety, low crime, and tree cover, and lowest on walkability and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Fern expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $160,702. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $73,010 median income, cost of living beats 64% of towns.
Is Fern safe?
Yes, Fern is safer than 90% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $152 per resident a year.
Compare Fern with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Fern. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Fern represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Fern detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Fern: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Fern: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Fern: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Fern: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Fern detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.