Best PlacesLower Allen, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lower Allen, 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.
Lower Allen ranks 5,947th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Lower Allen
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.
Lower Allen's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lower Allen ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 97% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 96% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 95% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 92% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 92% of towns
Where Lower Allen ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 2% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 61 pleasant days a year, better than only 9% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 17% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 18% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lower Allen
A household needs to earn about $71,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lower Allen home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $87,743, 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 Lower Allen's effective rate of 1.17%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Lower Allen
Lower Allen runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Lower Allen.
Who works in Lower Allen, and how
Work in Lower Allen centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Lower Allen
Lower Allen has more restaurants and bars per resident than 80% of towns and more parkland per resident than 94% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Lower Allen and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Lower Allen, month by month
Lower Allen sees roughly 61 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 34° | 25° |
| April | 69° | 55° | 43° |
| July | 91° | 79° | 68° |
| October | 72° | 59° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Lower Allen
The nearest airport, Harrisburg International, is about 8 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall, about 74 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lower Allen
Schools across Lower Allen average an A, better than 95% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Highland El SchA+ · 85% proficient
- Rossmoyne El SchA · 70% proficient
- Washington Heights El SchA · 70% proficient
Top middle schools
- Allen MsB+ · 50% proficient
- New Cumberland MsB · 45% proficient
Top high schools
- Cedar Cliff HsA+ · 80% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lower Allen school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lower Allen 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 Lower Allen against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lower Allen
Is Lower Allen a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lower Allen ranks 5,947th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cell coverage, walkability, and good schools, and lowest on noise and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lower Allen expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $259,810. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $87,743 median income, cost of living beats 66% of towns.
Is Lower Allen safe?
Lower Allen is safer than 43% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $281 per resident a year.
Compare Lower Allen with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lower Allen. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lower Allen 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.
Lower Allen detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lower Allen: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lower Allen: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lower Allen: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lower Allen: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lower Allen 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.