Best PlacesHawstone, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hawstone, 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.
Hawstone ranks 30,467th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Hawstone
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.
Hawstone's strengths and weaknesses
Where Hawstone ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 84% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 80% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 79% of towns
- BikingBetter than 68% of towns
Where Hawstone ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 5% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 26% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 27% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Hawstone
A household needs to earn about $49,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hawstone home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $65,943, 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 Hawstone'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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Hawstone
Hawstone 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 Hawstone.
Who works in Hawstone, and how
Work in Hawstone centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 94%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Hawstone
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Hawstone.
What the weather is like in Hawstone, month by month
Hawstone sees roughly 78 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 31° | 25° |
| April | 63° | 52° | 42° |
| July | 87° | 75° | 65° |
| October | 65° | 55° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Hawstone
The nearest airport, State College Regional, is about 26 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall, about 107 miles away.
The best schools in and around Hawstone
Schools across Hawstone average a B−, better than 60% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Juniata El SchB · 45% proficient
- East Derry El SchC · 35% proficient
- Lewistown El SchD · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- Mifflin Co MsC · 34% proficient
- Tuscarora MsC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Juniata ShsA− · 65% proficient
- Mifflin Co HsA− · 59% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hawstone school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hawstone 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 Hawstone against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Hawstone
Is Hawstone a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hawstone ranks 30,467th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, big-city access, and low disaster risk, and lowest on noise and walkability. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hawstone expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $178,791. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $65,943 median income, cost of living beats 47% of towns.
Is Hawstone safe?
Yes, Hawstone is safer than 62% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $231 per resident a year.
Compare Hawstone with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hawstone. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hawstone 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.
Hawstone detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hawstone: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hawstone: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hawstone: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hawstone: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hawstone 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.