Best PlacesPenns Grove, NJ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Penns Grove, 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.
Penns Grove ranks 42,829th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and state finances rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Penns Grove
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.
Penns Grove's strengths and weaknesses
Where Penns Grove ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 98% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 97% of towns
- TransitBetter than 96% of towns
- BikingBetter than 94% of towns
- Short commute21.0 minutes each way, better than 84% of towns
Where Penns Grove ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 1% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- School gradeD−, better than only 3% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 5% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Penns Grove
A household needs to earn about $95,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Penns Grove home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $64,778, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Penns Grove's effective rate of 2.21%, 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 Penns Grove
Penns Grove 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 Penns Grove.
Who works in Penns Grove, and how
Work in Penns Grove centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Penns Grove
Penns Grove has more restaurants and bars per resident than 94% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Penns Grove and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Penns Grove, month by month
Penns Grove sees roughly 59 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 35° | 26° |
| April | 68° | 55° | 43° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 69° |
| October | 72° | 59° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Penns Grove
The nearest airport, New Castle, is about 8 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Philadelphia International, about 16 miles away.
The best schools in and around Penns Grove
Schools across Penns Grove average a D−, better than 3% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mannington Township Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Oldmans Township SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Paul W CarletonF · 8% proficient
Top middle schools
- Penns Grove Middle SchoolF · 11% proficient
Top high schools
- Penns Grove High SchoolD− · 13% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Penns Grove school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Penns Grove 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 Penns Grove against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Penns Grove
Is Penns Grove a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Penns Grove ranks 42,829th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, big-city access, and transit, and lowest on state finances and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Penns Grove expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $304,213. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $64,778 median income, cost of living beats 21% of towns.
Is Penns Grove safe?
Penns Grove is safer than 29% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $263 per resident a year.
Compare Penns Grove with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Penns Grove. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Penns Grove 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.
Penns Grove detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Penns Grove: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Penns Grove: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Penns Grove: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Penns Grove: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Penns Grove 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.