Best PlacesPennsauken, NJ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Pennsauken, 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.
Pennsauken ranks 26,551st 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 Pennsauken
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.
Pennsauken's strengths and weaknesses
Where Pennsauken ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- TransitBetter than 99% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 97% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 95% of towns
Where Pennsauken ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 1% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 4% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 58 pleasant days a year, better than only 6% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 7% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Pennsauken
A household needs to earn about $67,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Pennsauken home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $81,346, 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 Pennsauken's effective rate of 2.19%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Pennsauken
Pennsauken's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Pennsauken.
Who works in Pennsauken, and how
Work in Pennsauken centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Pennsauken
Pennsauken has more restaurants and bars per resident than 98% of towns and more parkland per resident than 92% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Pennsauken and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Pennsauken, month by month
Pennsauken sees roughly 58 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 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° | 36° | 26° |
| April | 68° | 55° | 43° |
| July | 91° | 80° | 69° |
| October | 72° | 60° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Pennsauken
Philadelphia International sits about 11 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 14.8 million passengers in 2025, with 179 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Pennsauken
Schools across Pennsauken average a D, better than 4% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Eleanor Rush Intermediate SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Merchantville Elementary SchoolC− · 29% proficient
- Benjamin Franklin Elementary SchoolD · 18% proficient
Top middle schools
- Cinnaminson Middle SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Palmyra Middle SchoolD · 21% proficient
- Howard M. Phifer Middle SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Cinnaminson High SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Palmyra High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Pennsauken High SchoolD · 21% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Pennsauken school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Pennsauken 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 Pennsauken against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Pennsauken suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 7% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Pennsauken
Is Pennsauken a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Pennsauken ranks 26,551st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, transit, and big-city access, 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 Pennsauken expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $216,280. The overall cost of living runs about 3% below the national average. Set against a $81,346 median income, cost of living beats 48% of towns.
Is Pennsauken safe?
Pennsauken is safer than 19% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $303 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Pennsauken?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 45 with lows near 26. That works out to about 58 pleasant days a year, more than 6% of towns.
Is Pennsauken good for families?
Schools beat 4% of towns, crime safety beats 19%, and childcare runs $1,338 a month.
Compare Pennsauken with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Pennsauken. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Pennsauken 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.
Pennsauken detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Pennsauken: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Pennsauken: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Pennsauken: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Pennsauken: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Pennsauken 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.