Best PlacesMont Alto, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Mont Alto, 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.
Mont Alto ranks 12,614th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Mont Alto
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.
Mont Alto's strengths and weaknesses
Where Mont Alto ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 98% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 95% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 95% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 90% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 85% of towns
Where Mont Alto ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 19% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 24% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 70 pleasant days a year, better than only 26% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 27% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Mont Alto
A household needs to earn about $55,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mont Alto home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $79,651, 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 Mont Alto's effective rate of 0.92%, 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 Mont Alto
Mont Alto's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Mont Alto.
Who works in Mont Alto, and how
Work in Mont Alto centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Mont Alto
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Mont Alto.
What the weather is like in Mont Alto, month by month
Mont Alto sees roughly 70 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 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 | 68° | 55° | 43° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 68° |
| October | 71° | 59° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Mont Alto
The nearest airport, Hagerstown Regional/Richard A Henson Field, is about 13 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Washington Dulles International, about 62 miles away.
The best schools in and around Mont Alto
Schools across Mont Alto average an A, better than 95% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mowrey El SchA+ · 80% proficient
Top middle schools
- Waynesboro Area MsB+ · 49% proficient
- Chambersburg Area Ms - SouthC · 34% proficient
Top high schools
- Waynesboro Area ShsA+ · 80% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mont Alto school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mont Alto 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 Mont Alto against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Mont Alto
Is Mont Alto a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mont Alto ranks 12,614th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cell coverage, few empty homes, and good schools, and lowest on a weak job market and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Mont Alto expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $205,619. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $79,651 median income, cost of living beats 60% of towns.
Is Mont Alto safe?
Mont Alto is safer than 33% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $305 per resident a year.
Compare Mont Alto with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mont Alto. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mont Alto 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.
Mont Alto detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mont Alto: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mont Alto: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mont Alto: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mont Alto: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mont Alto 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.