Best PlacesMars, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Mars, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Mars ranks 296th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Mars
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.
Mars' strengths and weaknesses
Where Mars ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 98% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 98% of towns
- School gradeA+, better than 98% of towns
Where Mars ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 14% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
- Cheap childcare$967 a month, better than only 27% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 27% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 32% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Mars
A household needs to earn about $139,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mars home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $156,824, 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 Mars' effective rate of 0.99%, 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 Mars
Mars'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 Mars.
Who works in Mars, and how
Work in Mars centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 68%
- Work from home 29%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Mars
Mars has more restaurants and bars per resident than 72% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Mars and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Mars, month by month
Mars sees roughly 74 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38° | 29° | 20° |
| April | 63° | 50° | 39° |
| July | 85° | 73° | 61° |
| October | 66° | 54° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Mars
Pittsburgh International sits about 17 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 4.8 million passengers in 2025, with 104 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Mars
Schools across Mars average an A+, better than 98% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Bradford Woods El SchA+ · 93% proficient
- Wexford El SchA+ · 88% proficient
- Haine El SchA+ · 85% proficient
Top middle schools
- Eden Hall Upper El SchA+ · 74% proficient
- Marshall MsA+ · 72% proficient
- Mars Area Centennial SchA · 67% proficient
Top high schools
- Pine-richland HsA+ · 91% proficient
- North Allegheny HsA+ · 88% proficient
- Mars Area ShsA+ · 87% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mars school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mars 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 Mars against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Mars
Is Mars a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mars ranks 296th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, an educated workforce, and low disaster risk, and lowest on noise and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Mars expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $516,926. The overall cost of living runs about 3% above the national average. Set against a $156,824 median income, cost of living beats 98% of towns.
Is Mars safe?
Yes, Mars is safer than 85% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $181 per resident a year.
Compare Mars with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mars. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mars 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.
Mars detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mars: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mars: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mars: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mars: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mars 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.