Best PlacesLewistown, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lewistown, 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.
Lewistown ranks 34,818th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Lewistown
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.
Lewistown's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lewistown ranks high
- TransitBetter than 91% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 90% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 88% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 85% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 83% of towns
Where Lewistown ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 11% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 16% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 17% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lewistown
A household needs to earn about $38,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lewistown home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $57,959, 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 Lewistown's effective rate of 1.48%, 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 Lewistown
Lewistown 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 Lewistown.
Who works in Lewistown, and how
Work in Lewistown centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Lewistown
Lewistown has more restaurants and bars per resident than 67% of towns and more parkland per resident than 93% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Lewistown and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Lewistown, month by month
Lewistown sees roughly 76 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 31° | 25° |
| April | 63° | 52° | 42° |
| July | 87° | 75° | 65° |
| October | 65° | 55° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Lewistown
The nearest airport, State College Regional, is about 22 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall, about 109 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lewistown
Schools across Lewistown average a C+, better than 52% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Indian Valley El SchB+ · 53% proficient
- Lewistown Intrmd SchB+ · 51% proficient
- Juniata El SchB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Mifflin Co MsC · 34% proficient
- Tuscarora MsC− · 28% proficient
- Mount Union Area JhsD+ · 24% proficient
Top high schools
- Juniata ShsA− · 65% proficient
- Mifflin Co HsA− · 59% proficient
- Mount Union Area ShsC+ · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lewistown school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lewistown 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 Lewistown against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lewistown
Is Lewistown a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lewistown ranks 34,818th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, walkability, and cell coverage, and lowest on noise and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lewistown expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $132,740. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $57,959 median income, cost of living beats 28% of towns.
Is Lewistown safe?
Lewistown is safer than 34% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $316 per resident a year.
Compare Lewistown with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lewistown. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lewistown 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.
Lewistown detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lewistown: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lewistown: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lewistown: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lewistown: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lewistown 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.