Best PlacesParadise, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Paradise, 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.
Paradise ranks 8,689th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on few empty homes by a wide margin, and education levels rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Paradise
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.
Paradise's strengths and weaknesses
Where Paradise ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 95% of towns
- TransitBetter than 95% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 90% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 88% of towns
Where Paradise ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 2% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 5% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,099 a month, better than only 16% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Paradise
A household needs to earn about $93,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Paradise home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $104,261, 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 Paradise's effective rate of 1.08%, 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 Paradise
Paradise runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Paradise.
Who works in Paradise, and how
Work in Paradise centers on retail trade and construction. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Paradise
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Paradise.
What the weather is like in Paradise, month by month
Paradise sees roughly 75 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 39, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39° | 32° | 26° |
| April | 62° | 53° | 44° |
| July | 84° | 76° | 68° |
| October | 66° | 57° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Paradise
The nearest airport, Lancaster, is about 14 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Philadelphia International, about 46 miles away.
The best schools in and around Paradise
Schools across Paradise average a B−, better than 67% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Pine Grove El SchA+ · 85% proficient
- Bart-colerain El SchA+ · 80% proficient
- Octorara El SchA · 70% proficient
Top middle schools
- Martin Meylin MsA− · 56% proficient
- Smith MsB+ · 50% proficient
- Pine Grove Area MsB · 45% proficient
Top high schools
- Solanco HsA+ · 85% proficient
- Lampeter-strasburg ShsB · 50% proficient
- Pine Grove Area HsB− · 45% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Paradise school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Paradise 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 Paradise against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Paradise
Is Paradise a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Paradise ranks 8,689th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on few empty homes, big-city access, and transit, and lowest on education levels and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Paradise expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $343,086. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $104,261 median income, cost of living beats 80% of towns.
Is Paradise safe?
Yes, Paradise is safer than 75% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $200 per resident a year.
Compare Paradise with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Paradise. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Paradise 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.
Paradise detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Paradise: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Paradise: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Paradise: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Paradise: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Paradise 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.