Best PlacesMercer County, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Mercer County, 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.
Mercer County ranks 1,122nd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on low disaster risk and heat safety. The weaker spots are state infrastructure, childcare costs, and taxes.
The best neighborhoods in Mercer County
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 Mercer County
The parts of Mercer County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
New Wilmington
Crime runs lower, schools score higher, and incomes run higher.
Grove City & Mercer
Prices have run up less, though fewer households have young kids.
Sharon, Hermitage & Sharpsville
Streets are more walkable and biking is better.
Farrell & West Middlesex
Fewer homes sit empty, though health outcomes score lower.
Greenville
Local pay stretches less far and it is noisier.
Mercer County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 2% of the country and others in the top 9%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Mercer County's strengths and weaknesses
Mercer County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Low disaster risk is the standout, in the top 2% of counties. Heat safety and good schools follow.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. State infrastructure, childcare costs, and taxes 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 Mercer County ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 98% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 85% of counties
- School gradeB+, better than 84% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 80% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than 78% of counties
Where Mercer County ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 14% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,038 a month, better than only 15% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 19% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 20% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 23% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Mercer County
A household needs to earn about $47,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mercer County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $63,980, 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 Mercer County's effective rate of 1.18%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Mercer County
Mercer County 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 Mercer County.
Who works in Mercer County, and how
Work in Mercer County 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 86%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Mercer County
Mercer County has more parkland per resident than 80% of counties and more late-night spots per resident than 71% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Mercer County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Mercer County growing, and who is moving in?
Mercer County has lost about 6% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Pittsburgh, PA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Mercer County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Mercer County, month by month
Mercer County sees roughly 72 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38° | 29° | 21° |
| April | 64° | 50° | 37° |
| July | 86° | 73° | 61° |
| October | 67° | 55° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Mercer County
Pittsburgh International sits about 54 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 Mercer County
Schools across Mercer County average a B+, better than 84% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Wilmington Area El SchA+ · 95% proficient
- Sharpsville Area El SchA+ · 80% proficient
- Oakview El SchA · 72% proficient
Top middle schools
- Oakview El SchA+ · 70% proficient
- Sharpsville Area MsA · 65% proficient
- Delahunty MsA · 64% proficient
Top high schools
- Sharpsville Area ShsA+ · 95% proficient
- Wilmington Area HsA+ · 85% proficient
- Reynolds JshsA− · 65% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mercer County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mercer County 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 Mercer County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Mercer County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 10% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Mercer County
Is Mercer County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mercer County ranks 1,122nd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low disaster risk, heat safety, and good schools, and lowest on state infrastructure and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Mercer County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $170,159. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $63,980 median income, cost of living beats 32% of counties.
Is Mercer County safe?
Yes, Mercer County is safer than 61% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $284 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Mercer County?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 38 with lows near 21. That works out to about 72 pleasant days a year, more than 23% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Mercer County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are New Wilmington, Grove City & Mercer, and Sharon, Hermitage & Sharpsville. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Mercer County good for families?
Schools beat 84% of counties, crime safety beats 61%, and childcare runs $1,038 a month.
Is Mercer County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 32% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 70% of counties. About 10% of workers already work from home.
Compare Mercer County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mercer County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mercer County 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.
Mercer County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mercer County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mercer County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mercer County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mercer County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mercer County 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.