Best PlacesPennsylvania Furnace, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Pennsylvania Furnace, 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.
Pennsylvania Furnace ranks 1,584th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Pennsylvania Furnace
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.
Pennsylvania Furnace's strengths and weaknesses
Where Pennsylvania Furnace ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 97% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 97% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 96% of towns
Where Pennsylvania Furnace ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 6% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,110 a month, better than only 16% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 23% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 27% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Pennsylvania Furnace
A household needs to earn about $77,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Pennsylvania Furnace home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $91,647, 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 Pennsylvania Furnace's effective rate of 1.13%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Pennsylvania Furnace
Pennsylvania Furnace 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 Pennsylvania Furnace.
Who works in Pennsylvania Furnace, and how
Work in Pennsylvania Furnace centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 75%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 12%
Life in Pennsylvania Furnace
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Pennsylvania Furnace.
What the weather is like in Pennsylvania Furnace, month by month
Pennsylvania Furnace sees roughly 84 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 29° | 23° |
| April | 61° | 50° | 41° |
| July | 84° | 73° | 64° |
| October | 64° | 54° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Pennsylvania Furnace
The nearest airport, State College Regional, is about 11 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 120 miles away.
The best schools in and around Pennsylvania Furnace
Schools across Pennsylvania Furnace average an A, better than 97% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Ferguson Twp El SchA+ · 95% proficient
- Tyrone Area El SchA+ · 80% proficient
- Juniata Valley El SchB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Mount Nittany MsA− · 55% proficient
- Tyrone Area MsB · 45% proficient
Top high schools
- State College Area HsA+ · 80% proficient
- Juniata Valley JshsC+ · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Pennsylvania Furnace school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Pennsylvania Furnace 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 Pennsylvania Furnace against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Pennsylvania Furnace
Is Pennsylvania Furnace a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Pennsylvania Furnace ranks 1,584th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, few empty homes, and population health, and lowest on taxes and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Pennsylvania Furnace expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $283,775. The overall cost of living runs about 2% above the national average. Set against a $91,647 median income, cost of living beats 64% of towns.
Is Pennsylvania Furnace safe?
Yes, Pennsylvania Furnace is safer than 86% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $174 per resident a year.
Compare Pennsylvania Furnace with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Pennsylvania Furnace. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Pennsylvania Furnace 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.
Pennsylvania Furnace detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Pennsylvania Furnace: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Pennsylvania Furnace: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Pennsylvania Furnace: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Pennsylvania Furnace: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Pennsylvania Furnace 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.