Best PlacesPenbrook, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Penbrook, 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.
Penbrook ranks 15,437th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Penbrook
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.
Penbrook's strengths and weaknesses
Where Penbrook ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 98% of towns
- BikingBetter than 94% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 92% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 91% of towns
Where Penbrook ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 4% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 9% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 61 pleasant days a year, better than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Penbrook
A household needs to earn about $54,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Penbrook home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $80,319, 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 Penbrook's effective rate of 1.67%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Penbrook
Penbrook runs younger 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 Penbrook.
Who works in Penbrook, and how
Work in Penbrook centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 74%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 12%
Life in Penbrook
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Penbrook.
What the weather is like in Penbrook, month by month
Penbrook sees roughly 61 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 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 | 69° | 55° | 43° |
| July | 91° | 79° | 68° |
| October | 72° | 59° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Penbrook
The nearest airport, Harrisburg International, is about 7 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall, about 77 miles away.
The best schools in and around Penbrook
Schools across Penbrook average a C, better than 36% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- South Side El SchC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Central Dauphin East MsD+ · 26% proficient
Top high schools
- Central Dauphin East ShsC+ · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Penbrook school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Penbrook 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 Penbrook against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Penbrook
Is Penbrook a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Penbrook ranks 15,437th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, cell coverage, and biking, and lowest on noise and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Penbrook expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $184,646. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $80,319 median income, cost of living beats 70% of towns.
Is Penbrook safe?
Penbrook is safer than 12% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $443 per resident a year.
Compare Penbrook with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Penbrook. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Penbrook 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.
Penbrook detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Penbrook: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Penbrook: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Penbrook: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Penbrook: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Penbrook 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.