Best PlacesIndian Lake, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Indian Lake, 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.
Indian Lake ranks 7,840th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and empty homes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Indian Lake
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.
Indian Lake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Indian Lake ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 95% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 95% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 95% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 94% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 87% of towns
Where Indian Lake ranks low
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
- Short commute33.1 minutes each way, better than only 20% 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 Indian Lake
A household needs to earn about $70,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Indian Lake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $81,553, 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 Indian Lake's effective rate of 0.94%, 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 Indian Lake
Indian Lake 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 Indian Lake.
Who works in Indian Lake, and how
Work in Indian Lake centers on construction and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Indian Lake
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Indian Lake.
What the weather is like in Indian Lake, month by month
Indian Lake sees roughly 90 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 27° | 20° |
| April | 61° | 48° | 38° |
| July | 81° | 71° | 62° |
| October | 64° | 53° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Indian Lake
The nearest airport, John Murtha Johnstown/Cambria County, is about 19 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 79 miles away.
The best schools in and around Indian Lake
Schools across Indian Lake average an A, better than 95% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Shanksville-stonycreek El SchA+ · 90% proficient
Top middle schools
- Shanksville-stonycreek MsA · 60% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Indian Lake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Indian Lake 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 Indian Lake against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Indian Lake
Is Indian Lake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Indian Lake ranks 7,840th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on heat safety, good schools, and low disaster risk, and lowest on empty homes and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Indian Lake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $262,650. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $81,553 median income, cost of living beats 65% of towns.
Is Indian Lake safe?
Yes, Indian Lake is safer than 94% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $136 per resident a year.
Compare Indian Lake with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Indian Lake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Indian Lake 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.
Indian Lake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Indian Lake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Indian Lake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Indian Lake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Indian Lake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Indian Lake 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.