Best PlacesPlainfield, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Plainfield, 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.
Plainfield ranks 17,307th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. The weather pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on low disaster risk.
The best neighborhoods in Plainfield
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.
Plainfield's strengths and weaknesses
Where Plainfield ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 90% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 90% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 89% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 87% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 81% of towns
Where Plainfield ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 61 pleasant days a year, better than only 10% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 14% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 18% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Plainfield
A household needs to earn about $76,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Plainfield home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $77,318, 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 Plainfield's effective rate of 1.20%, 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 Plainfield
Plainfield runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Plainfield.
Who works in Plainfield, and how
Work in Plainfield centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Plainfield
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Plainfield.
What the weather is like in Plainfield, month by month
Plainfield sees roughly 61 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 34° | 25° |
| April | 69° | 55° | 43° |
| July | 91° | 79° | 68° |
| October | 72° | 59° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Plainfield
The nearest airport, Harrisburg International, is about 28 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall, about 79 miles away.
The best schools in and around Plainfield
Schools across Plainfield average a B+, better than 77% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Oak Flat El SchA · 72% proficient
- Mount Rock Elem SchA · 65% proficient
- Londonderry El SchB+ · 53% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lower Dauphin MsB · 44% proficient
- Big Spring MsB · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- Lower Dauphin HsA · 71% proficient
- Big Spring HsB · 48% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Plainfield school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Plainfield 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 Plainfield against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Plainfield
Is Plainfield a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Plainfield ranks 17,307th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, cell coverage, and big-city access, and lowest on the weather and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Plainfield expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $276,792. The overall cost of living runs about 1% below the national average. Set against a $77,318 median income, cost of living beats 45% of towns.
Is Plainfield safe?
Yes, Plainfield is safer than 73% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $222 per resident a year.
Compare Plainfield with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Plainfield. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Plainfield 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.
Plainfield detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Plainfield: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Plainfield: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Plainfield: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Plainfield: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Plainfield 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.