Best PlacesPenn Lake Park, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Penn Lake Park, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Penn Lake Park ranks 12,580th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on big-city access by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Penn Lake Park
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.
Penn Lake Park's strengths and weaknesses
Where Penn Lake Park ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 93% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 87% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 86% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 85% of towns
- Household income$97,708 median, better than 83% of towns
Where Penn Lake Park ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 16% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 17% of towns
- Short commute33.4 minutes each way, better than only 19% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Penn Lake Park
A household needs to earn about $62,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Penn Lake Park home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $97,708, 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 Penn Lake Park'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, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Penn Lake Park
Penn Lake Park 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 Penn Lake Park.
Who works in Penn Lake Park, and how
Work in Penn Lake Park centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Penn Lake Park
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Penn Lake Park.
What the weather is like in Penn Lake Park, month by month
Penn Lake Park 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 Penn Lake Park
The nearest airport, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International, is about 16 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Newark Liberty International, about 89 miles away.
The best schools in and around Penn Lake Park
Schools across Penn Lake Park average a B+, better than 81% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Solomon/plains El SchA · 70% proficient
- Weatherly Area El SchA− · 60% proficient
- Fairview El SchA− · 59% proficient
Top middle schools
- Weatherly Area MsC− · 30% proficient
- Solomon/plains MsD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Weatherly Area ShsA− · 60% proficient
- Crestwood Secondary CampusA− · 59% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Penn Lake Park school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Penn Lake Park 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 Penn Lake Park against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Penn Lake Park
Is Penn Lake Park a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Penn Lake Park ranks 12,580th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, tree cover, and a strong job market, and lowest on noise and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Penn Lake Park expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $222,000. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $97,708 median income, cost of living beats 85% of towns.
Is Penn Lake Park safe?
Yes, Penn Lake Park is safer than 78% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $184 per resident a year.
Compare Penn Lake Park with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Penn Lake Park. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Penn Lake Park 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.
Penn Lake Park detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Penn Lake Park: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Penn Lake Park: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Penn Lake Park: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Penn Lake Park: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Penn Lake Park 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.