Best PlacesMount Penn, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Mount Penn, 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.
Mount Penn ranks 17,090th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Mount Penn
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.
Mount Penn's strengths and weaknesses
Where Mount Penn ranks high
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- TransitBetter than 99% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 96% of towns
Where Mount Penn ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 59 pleasant days a year, better than only 7% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 13% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 24% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Mount Penn
A household needs to earn about $61,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mount Penn home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $63,937, 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 Mount Penn's effective rate of 2.46%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Mount Penn
Mount Penn runs younger than the country, though it still carries a larger-than-average share of residents over 65.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Mount Penn.
Who works in Mount Penn, and how
Work in Mount Penn centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Mount Penn
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Mount Penn.
What the weather is like in Mount Penn, month by month
Mount Penn sees roughly 59 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 33° | 24° |
| April | 67° | 54° | 42° |
| July | 90° | 78° | 67° |
| October | 71° | 58° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Mount Penn
The nearest airport, Lancaster, is about 26 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Philadelphia International, about 47 miles away.
The best schools in and around Mount Penn
Schools across Mount Penn average a C, better than 30% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mt Penn El SchC+ · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Antietam Ms/hsC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mount Penn school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mount Penn 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 Mount Penn against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Mount Penn
Is Mount Penn a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mount Penn ranks 17,090th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on biking, cell coverage, and walkability, and lowest on property taxes and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Mount Penn expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $189,451. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $63,937 median income, cost of living beats 28% of towns.
Is Mount Penn safe?
Mount Penn is safer than 24% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $345 per resident a year.
Compare Mount Penn with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mount Penn. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mount Penn 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.
Mount Penn detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mount Penn: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mount Penn: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mount Penn: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mount Penn: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mount Penn 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.