Best PlacesNew Castle, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around New Castle, 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.
New Castle ranks 1,560th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in New Castle
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.
New Castle's strengths and weaknesses
Where New Castle ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 96% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 82% of cities
- QuietBetter than 79% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 77% of cities
- Short commute22.4 minutes each way, better than 75% of cities
Where New Castle ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 8% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than only 10% of cities
- Household income$62,174 median, better than only 11% of cities
- BikingBetter than only 13% of cities
- TransitBetter than only 13% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in New Castle
A household needs to earn about $39,000 a year to comfortably buy the median New Castle home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $62,174, 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 New Castle's effective rate of 1.50%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in New Castle
New Castle 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 New Castle.
Who works in New Castle, and how
Work in New Castle centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in New Castle
New Castle has more restaurants and bars per resident than 75% of cities and more parkland per resident than 86% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of New Castle and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in New Castle, month by month
New Castle sees roughly 70 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38° | 28° | 20° |
| April | 64° | 50° | 38° |
| July | 86° | 73° | 61° |
| October | 67° | 54° | 43° |
Flying in and out of New Castle
Pittsburgh International sits about 36 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 New Castle
Schools across New Castle average a B, better than 68% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Wilmington Area El SchA+ · 95% proficient
- Shenango El SchA+ · 80% proficient
- Union Memorial El SchA+ · 80% proficient
Top middle schools
- Mohawk JhsA− · 53% proficient
- Union Area MsB+ · 50% proficient
- Laurel MsB+ · 48% proficient
Top high schools
- Wilmington Area HsA+ · 85% proficient
- Laurel HsA · 73% proficient
- Shenango HsA− · 65% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every New Castle school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
New Castle 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 New Castle against the other 2,097 cities.
Who New Castle suits
Common questions about living in New Castle
Is New Castle a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, New Castle ranks 1,560th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on low disaster risk, cheap car insurance, and quiet, and lowest on a weak job market and health outcomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is New Castle expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $137,609. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $62,174 median income, cost of living beats 25% of cities.
Is New Castle safe?
New Castle is safer than 38% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $325 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in New Castle?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 38 with lows near 20. That works out to about 70 pleasant days a year, more than 28% of cities.
Is New Castle good for families?
Schools beat 68% of cities, crime safety beats 38%, and childcare runs $936 a month.
Compare New Castle with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to New Castle. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in New Castle 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.
New Castle detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for New Castle: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in New Castle: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of New Castle: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in New Castle: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
New Castle 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.