Best PlacesGap, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Gap, 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.
Gap ranks 12,008th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and education levels rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Gap
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.
Gap's strengths and weaknesses
Where Gap ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 96% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 96% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 94% of towns
- TransitBetter than 93% of towns
Where Gap ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 2% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,118 a month, better than only 15% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 18% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Gap
A household needs to earn about $90,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Gap home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $91,140, 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 Gap's effective rate of 1.12%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Gap
Gap runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Gap.
Who works in Gap, and how
Work in Gap centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Gap
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Gap.
What the weather is like in Gap, month by month
Gap sees roughly 81 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 39, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39° | 32° | 26° |
| April | 62° | 53° | 44° |
| July | 84° | 76° | 68° |
| October | 66° | 57° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Gap
The nearest airport, Lancaster, is about 18 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Philadelphia International, about 41 miles away.
The best schools in and around Gap
Schools across Gap average a B, better than 68% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Octorara El SchA · 70% proficient
- Salisbury El SchA · 70% proficient
- Paradise El SchB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Pequea Valley Intrmd SchB · 45% proficient
Top high schools
- Octorara Area JshsB− · 42% proficient
- Pequea Valley HsD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Gap school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Gap 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 Gap against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Gap
Is Gap a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Gap ranks 12,008th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on heat safety, big-city access, and fast internet, and lowest on education levels and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Gap expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $330,177. The overall cost of living runs about 3% below the national average. Set against a $91,140 median income, cost of living beats 66% of towns.
Is Gap safe?
Yes, Gap is safer than 73% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $200 per resident a year.
Compare Gap with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Gap. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Gap 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.
Gap detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Gap: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Gap: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Gap: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Gap: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Gap 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.