Best PlacesPlum, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Plum, 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.
Plum ranks 604th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and walkability ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Plum
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.
Plum's strengths and weaknesses
Where Plum ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 99% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than 99% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than 96% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than 96% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 94% of cities
Where Plum ranks low
- WalkabilityBetter than only 5% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than only 8% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 14% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 16% of cities
- BikingBetter than only 18% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Plum
A household needs to earn about $70,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Plum home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $102,667, 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 Plum's effective rate of 1.65%, 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 Plum
Plum runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Plum.
Who works in Plum, and how
Work in Plum 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 72%
- Work from home 24%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Plum
Plum has more parkland per resident than 96% of cities. That concentrates in some parts of Plum and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Plum, month by month
Plum sees roughly 77 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 40, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 40° | 31° | 23° |
| April | 66° | 53° | 41° |
| July | 86° | 75° | 65° |
| October | 68° | 57° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Plum
The nearest airport, Arnold Palmer Regional, is about 23 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 26 miles away.
The best schools in and around Plum
Schools across Plum average an A, better than 92% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Tenth Street El SchA+ · 95% proficient
- Pivik El SchA+ · 90% proficient
- O'block El SchA+ · 75% proficient
Top middle schools
- Plum MsA · 60% proficient
- Charles A Huston MsC+ · 38% proficient
- Linton MsD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Franklin Regional ShsA+ · 90% proficient
- Gateway ShsA · 75% proficient
- Plum ShsA · 75% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Plum school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Plum 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 Plum against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Plum suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 70% of cities and 24% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Plum
Is Plum a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Plum ranks 604th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on low disaster risk, tree cover, and health care access, and lowest on walkability and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Plum expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $240,596. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $102,667 median income, cost of living beats 70% of cities.
Is Plum safe?
Yes, Plum is safer than 75% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $208 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Plum?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 40 with lows near 23. That works out to about 77 pleasant days a year, more than 40% of cities.
Is Plum good for families?
Schools beat 92% of cities, crime safety beats 75%, and childcare runs $991 a month.
Compare Plum with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Plum. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Plum 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.
Plum detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Plum: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Plum: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Plum: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Plum: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Plum 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.