Best PlacesIrwin, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Irwin, 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.
Irwin ranks 403rd of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and biking ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Irwin
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.
Irwin's strengths and weaknesses
Where Irwin ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 99% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than 99% of cities
- School gradeA+, better than 98% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than 94% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than 94% of cities
Where Irwin ranks low
- BikingBetter than only 8% of cities
- TransitBetter than only 13% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 14% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than only 17% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than only 26% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Irwin
A household needs to earn about $73,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Irwin home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $105,275, 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 Irwin'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, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Irwin
Irwin 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 Irwin.
Who works in Irwin, and how
Work in Irwin centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Irwin
Irwin has more restaurants and bars per resident than 67% of cities and more parkland per resident than 88% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Irwin and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Irwin, month by month
Irwin sees roughly 77 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 40, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 40° | 31° | 23° |
| April | 66° | 53° | 41° |
| July | 86° | 75° | 65° |
| October | 68° | 57° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Irwin
The nearest airport, Arnold Palmer Regional, is about 17 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 29 miles away.
The best schools in and around Irwin
Schools across Irwin average an A+, better than 98% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Sunset Valley El SchA+ · 98% proficient
- Sunrise El SchA+ · 95% proficient
- Hahntown El SchA+ · 90% proficient
Top middle schools
- Norwin MsA+ · 70% proficient
- Penn MsA · 60% proficient
- Trafford MsA · 60% proficient
Top high schools
- Penn Trafford HsA+ · 91% proficient
- Norwin ShsA+ · 82% proficient
- Yough ShsA+ · 80% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Irwin school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Irwin 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 Irwin against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Irwin suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 71% of cities and 16% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Irwin
Is Irwin a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Irwin ranks 403rd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on a stable housing market, low disaster risk, and good schools, and lowest on biking and transit. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Irwin expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $267,579. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $105,275 median income, cost of living beats 71% of cities.
Is Irwin safe?
Yes, Irwin is safer than 91% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $166 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Irwin?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 40 with lows near 23. That works out to about 77 pleasant days a year, more than 40% of cities.
Is Irwin good for families?
Schools beat 98% of cities, crime safety beats 91%, and childcare runs $924 a month.
Compare Irwin with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Irwin. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Irwin 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.
Irwin detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Irwin: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Irwin: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Irwin: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Irwin: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Irwin 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.