Best PlacesPond Creek, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Pond Creek, 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.
Pond Creek ranks 30,544th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Pond Creek
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.
Pond Creek's strengths and weaknesses
Where Pond Creek ranks high
- BikingBetter than 94% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 93% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 88% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 88% of towns
Where Pond Creek ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 13% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 13% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Pond Creek
A household needs to earn about $53,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Pond Creek home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $66,528, 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 Pond Creek's effective rate of 1.40%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Pond Creek
Pond Creek 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 Pond Creek.
Who works in Pond Creek, and how
Work in Pond Creek centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Pond Creek
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Pond Creek.
What the weather is like in Pond Creek, month by month
Pond Creek sees roughly 71 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38° | 30° | 21° |
| April | 65° | 51° | 39° |
| July | 87° | 75° | 63° |
| October | 67° | 55° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Pond Creek
The nearest airport, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International, is about 20 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Philadelphia International, about 87 miles away.
The best schools in and around Pond Creek
Schools across Pond Creek average a C, better than 30% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Fairview El SchA− · 59% proficient
- Freeland El/msC− · 27% proficient
Top high schools
- Crestwood Secondary CampusA− · 59% proficient
- Hazleton Area HsC+ · 37% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Pond Creek school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Pond Creek 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 Pond Creek against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Pond Creek
Is Pond Creek a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Pond Creek ranks 30,544th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on biking, tree cover, and big-city access, and lowest on a weak job market and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Pond Creek expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $188,500. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $66,528 median income, cost of living beats 43% of towns.
Is Pond Creek safe?
Yes, Pond Creek is safer than 88% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $159 per resident a year.
Compare Pond Creek with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Pond Creek. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Pond Creek 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.
Pond Creek detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Pond Creek: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Pond Creek: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Pond Creek: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Pond Creek: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Pond Creek 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.