Best PlacesLanes Mills, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lanes Mills, 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.
Lanes Mills ranks 21,707th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Lanes Mills
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.
Lanes Mills' strengths and weaknesses
Where Lanes Mills ranks high
- Short commute16.2 minutes each way, better than 96% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 94% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 89% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 87% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 83% of towns
Where Lanes Mills ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 3% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 4% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 27% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lanes Mills
A household needs to earn about $42,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lanes Mills home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $62,325, 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 Lanes Mills' effective rate of 0.86%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Lanes Mills
Lanes Mills 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 Lanes Mills.
Who works in Lanes Mills, and how
Work in Lanes Mills centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Lanes Mills
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Lanes Mills.
What the weather is like in Lanes Mills, month by month
Lanes Mills sees roughly 76 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 27° | 19° |
| April | 62° | 48° | 36° |
| July | 83° | 71° | 60° |
| October | 65° | 53° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Lanes Mills
The nearest airport, Dubois Regional, is about 8 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 92 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lanes Mills
Schools across Lanes Mills average an A−, better than 82% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Brockway Area Elementary SchA · 67% proficient
- Juniata El SchA− · 58% proficient
Top middle schools
- Dubois Area MsB− · 41% proficient
Top high schools
- Dubois Area ShsB+ · 58% proficient
- Brockway Area JshsB+ · 53% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lanes Mills school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lanes Mills 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 Lanes Mills against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lanes Mills
Is Lanes Mills a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lanes Mills ranks 21,707th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, heat safety, and low crime, and lowest on a weak job market and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lanes Mills expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $161,029. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $62,325 median income, cost of living beats 43% of towns.
Is Lanes Mills safe?
Yes, Lanes Mills is safer than 89% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $159 per resident a year.
Compare Lanes Mills with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lanes Mills. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lanes Mills 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.
Lanes Mills detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lanes Mills: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lanes Mills: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lanes Mills: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lanes Mills: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lanes Mills 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.