Best PlacesGarards Fort, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Garards Fort, 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.
Garards Fort ranks 17,200th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores best on a strong job market, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Garards Fort
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.
Garards Fort's strengths and weaknesses
Where Garards Fort ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 77% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 74% of towns
- School gradeB, better than 74% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 74% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 74% of towns
Where Garards Fort ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 16% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 17% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 26% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Garards Fort
A household needs to earn about $47,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Garards Fort home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $70,831, 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 Garards Fort's effective rate of 1.08%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Garards Fort
Garards Fort runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Garards Fort.
Who works in Garards Fort, and how
Work in Garards Fort centers on health care & social and public administration. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Garards Fort
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Garards Fort.
What the weather is like in Garards Fort, month by month
Garards Fort sees roughly 72 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 33° | 24° |
| April | 68° | 55° | 42° |
| July | 87° | 75° | 64° |
| October | 70° | 58° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Garards Fort
The nearest airport, Morgantown Municipal/Walter L Bill Hart Field, is about 12 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 49 miles away.
The best schools in and around Garards Fort
Schools across Garards Fort average a B, better than 74% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Bobtown El SchA+ · 80% proficient
Top high schools
- Mapletown JshsB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Garards Fort school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Garards Fort 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 Garards Fort against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Garards Fort
Is Garards Fort a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Garards Fort ranks 17,200th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a strong job market, low disaster risk, and good schools, and lowest on cell coverage and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Garards Fort expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $173,198. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $70,831 median income, cost of living beats 66% of towns.
Is Garards Fort safe?
Yes, Garards Fort is safer than 74% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $201 per resident a year.
Compare Garards Fort with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Garards Fort. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Garards Fort 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.
Garards Fort detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Garards Fort: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Garards Fort: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Garards Fort: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Garards Fort: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Garards Fort 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.