Best PlacesLawton, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lawton, 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.
Lawton ranks 16,014th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Lawton
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.
Lawton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lawton ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 93% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 85% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 85% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 85% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 72% of towns
Where Lawton ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 7% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 19% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 21% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 27% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lawton
A household needs to earn about $81,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lawton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $69,979, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Lawton's effective rate of 0.58%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Lawton
Lawton 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 Lawton.
Who works in Lawton, and how
Work in Lawton centers on manufacturing and finance & insurance. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Lawton
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Lawton.
What the weather is like in Lawton, month by month
Lawton sees roughly 79 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 33, with lows near 17. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° | 25° | 17° |
| April | 58° | 45° | 34° |
| July | 82° | 70° | 60° |
| October | 62° | 51° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Lawton
The nearest airport, Greater Binghamton/Edwin A Link Field, is about 29 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Newark Liberty International, about 126 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lawton
Schools across Lawton average a B, better than 65% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Wyalusing Valley El SchA+ · 80% proficient
- Northeast Bradford El SchA · 68% proficient
- Elk Lake El SchB+ · 54% proficient
Top high schools
- Wyalusing Valley JshsB+ · 55% proficient
- Northeast Bradford JshsB+ · 53% proficient
- Elk Lake JshsC+ · 36% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lawton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lawton 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 Lawton against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lawton
Is Lawton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lawton ranks 16,014th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, big-city access, and heat safety, and lowest on cell coverage and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lawton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $319,689. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $69,979 median income, cost of living beats 60% of towns.
Is Lawton safe?
Yes, Lawton is safer than 93% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $144 per resident a year.
Compare Lawton with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lawton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lawton 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.
Lawton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lawton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lawton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lawton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lawton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lawton 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.