Best PlacesPenton, NJ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Penton, 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.
Penton ranks 30,346th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on big-city access by a wide margin, and state finances rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Penton
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.
Penton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Penton ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 96% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 76% of towns
- Household income$89,173 median, better than 76% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 75% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 63% of towns
Where Penton ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 1% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,338 a month, better than only 8% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 60 pleasant days a year, better than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Penton
A household needs to earn about $72,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Penton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $89,173, 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 Penton's effective rate of 2.24%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Penton
Penton runs older 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 Penton.
Who works in Penton, and how
Work in Penton centers on retail trade and construction. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Penton
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Penton.
What the weather is like in Penton, month by month
Penton sees roughly 60 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 Penton
The nearest airport, New Castle, is about 13 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Philadelphia International, about 22 miles away.
The best schools in and around Penton
Schools across Penton average a C−, better than 28% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mannington Township Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Quinton Township SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Salem High SchoolD · 22% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Penton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Penton 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 Penton against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Penton
Is Penton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Penton ranks 30,346th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, what local pay buys, and high incomes, 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 Penton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $231,144. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $89,173 median income, cost of living beats 76% of towns.
Is Penton safe?
Penton is safer than 35% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $291 per resident a year.
Compare Penton with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Penton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Penton 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.
Penton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Penton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Penton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Penton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Penton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Penton 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.