Best PlacesLebanon, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Lebanon metro, 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.
Lebanon ranks 98th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on low crime and big-city access. The weaker spots are the weather, internet speeds, and transit.
The best neighborhoods in the Lebanon metro
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.
The best areas in Lebanon
The towns and districts of the Lebanon metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Palmyra & Annville
More adults hold degrees, schools score higher, and local pay stretches further.
Cornwall
More households have young kids and it is quieter.
Fredericksburg
Incomes run higher, though streets are more car-dependent.
Myerstown
Tree cover is thinner and biking is worse.
Jonestown
Prices have run up more.
Newmanstown
Fewer residents vote.
Downtown Lebanon
Crime runs higher and health care is harder to reach.
Lebanon shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 9% of the country and others in the top 2%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Lebanon's strengths and weaknesses
Lebanon lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Low crime, big-city access, and few empty homes carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. The weather, internet speeds, and transit hold the score down. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where Lebanon ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 93% of metro areas
- Big-city accessBetter than 91% of metro areas
- Low vacancyBetter than 88% of metro areas
- WalkabilityBetter than 87% of metro areas
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 79% of metro areas
Where Lebanon ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 64 pleasant days a year, better than only 10% of metro areas
- Internet speedBetter than only 12% of metro areas
- TransitBetter than only 13% of metro areas
- State infrastructureBetter than only 15% of metro areas
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 17% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Lebanon
A household needs to earn about $68,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lebanon home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $84,195, 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 Lebanon's effective rate of 1.27%, 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 Lebanon
Lebanon's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Lebanon.
Who works in Lebanon, and how
Work in Lebanon centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Lebanon
Lebanon has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most metro areas and more parkland per resident than 77% of metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Lebanon and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Lebanon growing, and who is moving in?
Lebanon has grown about 6% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Lancaster, PA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Lebanon go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Lebanon, month by month
Lebanon sees roughly 64 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 40, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 40° | 31° | 22° |
| April | 66° | 53° | 41° |
| July | 88° | 76° | 64° |
| October | 69° | 56° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Lebanon
The nearest airport, Lancaster, is about 16 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Philadelphia International, about 70 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lebanon
Schools across Lebanon average a B, better than 76% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- John Beck El SchA+ · 95% proficient
- Lingle Avenue El SchA+ · 85% proficient
- Fredericksburg El SchA · 70% proficient
Top middle schools
- Palmyra Area MsA · 63% proficient
- Warwick MsA · 62% proficient
- Annville-cleona MsB+ · 49% proficient
Top high schools
- Warwick ShsA+ · 90% proficient
- Palmyra Area ShsA− · 60% proficient
- Cedar Crest HsA− · 59% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lebanon school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lebanon 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 Lebanon against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Lebanon suits
Common questions about living in Lebanon
Is Lebanon a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lebanon ranks 98th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on low crime, big-city access, and few empty homes, and lowest on the weather and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lebanon expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $244,902. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $84,195 median income, cost of living beats 50% of metro areas.
Is Lebanon safe?
Yes, Lebanon is safer than 93% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $194 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Lebanon?
July highs average about 88 degrees, and January highs near 40 with lows near 22. That works out to about 64 pleasant days a year, more than 10% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Lebanon?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Palmyra & Annville, Cornwall, and Fredericksburg. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Lebanon good for families?
Schools beat 76% of metro areas, crime safety beats 93%, and childcare runs $886 a month.
Is Lebanon good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 50% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 12% of metro areas. About 12% of workers already work from home.
Compare Lebanon with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lebanon. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lebanon 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.
Lebanon detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lebanon: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lebanon: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lebanon: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lebanon: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lebanon 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.