Best PlacesMountain Top, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Mountain Top, 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.
Mountain Top ranks 1,999th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Mountain Top
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.
Mountain Top's strengths and weaknesses
Where Mountain Top ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 99% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 96% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 95% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 95% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 94% of towns
Where Mountain Top ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 17% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 24% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 27% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 72 pleasant days a year, better than only 31% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Mountain Top
A household needs to earn about $82,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mountain Top home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $112,840, 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 Mountain Top's effective rate of 1.26%, 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 Mountain Top
Mountain Top runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Mountain Top.
Who works in Mountain Top, and how
Work in Mountain Top centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Mountain Top
Mountain Top has more restaurants and bars per resident than 68% of towns and more parkland per resident than 84% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Mountain Top and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Mountain Top, month by month
Mountain Top sees roughly 72 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 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° | 30° | 21° |
| April | 65° | 51° | 39° |
| July | 87° | 75° | 63° |
| October | 67° | 55° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Mountain Top
The nearest airport, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International, is about 17 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Philadelphia International, about 94 miles away.
The best schools in and around Mountain Top
Schools across Mountain Top average an A−, better than 84% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Rice El SchA− · 60% proficient
- Fairview El SchA− · 59% proficient
- Drums El/msB− · 42% proficient
Top middle schools
- Greater Nanticoke Area Ed CtrD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Crestwood Secondary CampusA− · 59% proficient
- Hazleton Area HsC+ · 37% proficient
- Hanover Area JshsC+ · 37% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mountain Top school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mountain Top 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 Mountain Top against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Mountain Top
Is Mountain Top a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mountain Top ranks 1,999th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, health care access, and few empty homes, and lowest on property taxes and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Mountain Top expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $295,821. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $112,840 median income, cost of living beats 94% of towns.
Is Mountain Top safe?
Yes, Mountain Top is safer than 70% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $219 per resident a year.
Compare Mountain Top with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mountain Top. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mountain Top 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.
Mountain Top detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mountain Top: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mountain Top: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mountain Top: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mountain Top: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mountain Top 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.