Best PlacesMonongahela, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Monongahela, 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.
Monongahela ranks 23,149th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Monongahela
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.
Monongahela's strengths and weaknesses
Where Monongahela ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 94% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 88% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 84% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 82% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 76% of towns
Where Monongahela ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 7% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 13% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 16% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 23% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Monongahela
A household needs to earn about $44,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Monongahela home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $75,605, 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 Monongahela's effective rate of 1.29%, 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 Monongahela
Monongahela 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 Monongahela.
Who works in Monongahela, and how
Work in Monongahela centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Monongahela
Monongahela has more restaurants and bars per resident than 68% of towns and more parkland per resident than 92% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Monongahela and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Monongahela, month by month
Monongahela sees roughly 74 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 40, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 40° | 31° | 23° |
| April | 66° | 53° | 41° |
| July | 86° | 75° | 65° |
| October | 68° | 57° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Monongahela
Pittsburgh International sits about 26 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 Monongahela
Schools across Monongahela average a B, better than 72% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Ringgold El Sch NorthA+ · 80% proficient
- J.a. Allard El SchA · 67% proficient
- William Penn El SchA− · 62% proficient
Top middle schools
- Moon Area Lower MsA− · 56% proficient
- Elizabeth Forward MsB · 45% proficient
- Ringgold MsC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Moon ShsA− · 62% proficient
- Elizabeth Forward ShsA− · 60% proficient
- Ringgold ShsB+ · 55% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Monongahela school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Monongahela 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 Monongahela against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Monongahela
Is Monongahela a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Monongahela ranks 23,149th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, walkability, and a stable housing market, and lowest on noise and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Monongahela expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $157,066. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $75,605 median income, cost of living beats 67% of towns.
Is Monongahela safe?
Monongahela is safer than 23% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $355 per resident a year.
Compare Monongahela with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Monongahela. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Monongahela 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.
Monongahela detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Monongahela: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Monongahela: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Monongahela: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Monongahela: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Monongahela 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.