Best PlacesHarleigh, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Harleigh, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Harleigh ranks 17,879th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Harleigh
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.
Harleigh's strengths and weaknesses
Where Harleigh ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 96% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 96% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 93% of towns
- Short commute21.4 minutes each way, better than 82% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 81% of towns
Where Harleigh ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 19% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 21% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Harleigh
A household needs to earn about $72,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Harleigh home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $79,839, 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 Harleigh's effective rate of 1.22%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Harleigh
Harleigh runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Harleigh.
Who works in Harleigh, and how
Work in Harleigh centers on manufacturing and education. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Harleigh
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Harleigh.
What the weather is like in Harleigh, month by month
Harleigh sees roughly 70 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38° | 30° | 21° |
| April | 65° | 51° | 39° |
| July | 87° | 75° | 63° |
| October | 67° | 55° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Harleigh
The nearest airport, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International, is about 29 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Philadelphia International, about 81 miles away.
The best schools in and around Harleigh
Schools across Harleigh average a C+, better than 47% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- L B Morris El SchB− · 44% proficient
- Drums El/msB− · 42% proficient
- Freeland El/msC− · 27% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lehighton Area MsB− · 39% proficient
Top high schools
- Lehighton Area HsA · 70% proficient
- Hazleton Area HsC+ · 37% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Harleigh school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Harleigh 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 Harleigh against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Harleigh
Is Harleigh a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Harleigh ranks 17,879th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, few empty homes, and big-city access, and lowest on a weak job market and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Harleigh expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $261,640. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $79,839 median income, cost of living beats 62% of towns.
Is Harleigh safe?
Harleigh is safer than 39% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $288 per resident a year.
Compare Harleigh with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Harleigh. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Harleigh 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.
Harleigh detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Harleigh: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Harleigh: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Harleigh: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Harleigh: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Harleigh 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.