Best PlacesLander, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lander, 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.
Lander ranks 6,486th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Lander
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.
Lander's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lander ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 90% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 88% of towns
- Short commute20.0 minutes each way, better than 88% of towns
Where Lander ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 12% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 25% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 27% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lander
A household needs to earn about $43,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lander home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $72,159, 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 Lander's effective rate of 1.10%, 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 Lander
Lander runs older than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Lander.
Who works in Lander, and how
Work in Lander centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 1%
- Transit, walk, or bike 11%
Life in Lander
Lander has more restaurants and bars per resident than 99% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Lander and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Lander, month by month
Lander sees roughly 95 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 79 degrees. January highs sit near 33, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° | 25° | 18° |
| April | 56° | 45° | 35° |
| July | 79° | 69° | 59° |
| October | 61° | 51° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Lander
The nearest airport, Bradford Regional, is about 33 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 114 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lander
Schools across Lander average an A−, better than 88% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Eisenhower El SchA · 70% proficient
Top middle schools
- Persell Middle SchoolB · 44% proficient
- Beaty-warren MsB− · 40% proficient
- Thomas Jefferson Middle SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Frewsburg Junior-senior High SchoolA · 75% proficient
- Eisenhower M/hsA− · 60% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lander school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lander 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 Lander against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lander
Is Lander a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lander ranks 6,486th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, heat safety, and health care access, and lowest on internet speeds and walkability. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lander expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $156,300. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $72,159 median income, cost of living beats 58% of towns.
Is Lander safe?
Yes, Lander is safer than 100% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $99 per resident a year.
Compare Lander with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lander. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lander 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.
Lander detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lander: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lander: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lander: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lander: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lander 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.