Best PlacesPond Hill, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Pond Hill, 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.
Pond Hill ranks 25,759th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Pond Hill
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 Hill's strengths and weaknesses
Where Pond Hill ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 96% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 91% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 82% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 80% of towns
Where Pond Hill ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 8% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
- Short commute32.6 minutes each way, better than only 22% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 27% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Pond Hill
A household needs to earn about $45,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Pond Hill home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $72,733, 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 Hill's effective rate of 1.04%, 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 7 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 Hill
Pond Hill 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 Hill.
Who works in Pond Hill, and how
Work in Pond Hill centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Pond Hill
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Pond Hill.
What the weather is like in Pond Hill, month by month
Pond Hill sees roughly 72 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 Hill
The nearest airport, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International, is about 24 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Philadelphia International, about 98 miles away.
The best schools in and around Pond Hill
Schools across Pond Hill average a C+, better than 52% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Salem El SchA · 63% proficient
- Rice El SchA− · 60% proficient
- Gna El CtrC · 34% proficient
Top middle schools
- Berwick Area MsC+ · 37% proficient
- Greater Nanticoke Area Ed CtrD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Berwick Area HsA− · 62% proficient
- Northwest Area HsB · 50% proficient
- Greater Nanticoke Area ShsC+ · 36% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Pond Hill school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Pond Hill 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 Hill against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Pond Hill
Is Pond Hill a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Pond Hill ranks 25,759th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, tree cover, and big-city access, and lowest on cell coverage and walkability. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Pond Hill expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $166,060. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $72,733 median income, cost of living beats 57% of towns.
Is Pond Hill safe?
Pond Hill is safer than 50% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $257 per resident a year.
Compare Pond Hill with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Pond Hill. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Pond Hill 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 Hill detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Pond Hill: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Pond Hill: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Pond Hill: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Pond Hill: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Pond Hill 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.