Best PlacesPort Matilda, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Port Matilda, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Port Matilda ranks 815th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on population health by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Port Matilda
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.
Port Matilda's strengths and weaknesses
Where Port Matilda ranks high
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 98% of towns
- School gradeA+, better than 98% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 98% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 96% of towns
Where Port Matilda ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,135 a month, better than only 15% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 20% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 27% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 33% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Port Matilda
A household needs to earn about $107,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Port Matilda home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $111,389, 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 Port Matilda's effective rate of 0.97%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Port Matilda
Port Matilda runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Port Matilda.
Who works in Port Matilda, and how
Work in Port Matilda centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 19%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Port Matilda
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Port Matilda.
What the weather is like in Port Matilda, month by month
Port Matilda sees roughly 82 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 29° | 23° |
| April | 61° | 50° | 41° |
| July | 84° | 73° | 64° |
| October | 64° | 54° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Port Matilda
The nearest airport, State College Regional, is about 9 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 119 miles away.
The best schools in and around Port Matilda
Schools across Port Matilda average an A+, better than 98% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Gray's Woods El SchA+ · 95% proficient
- Tyrone Area El SchA+ · 80% proficient
- Park Forest El SchA+ · 80% proficient
Top middle schools
- Park Forest MsA+ · 70% proficient
- Bellefonte Area MsB · 46% proficient
- Tyrone Area MsB · 45% proficient
Top high schools
- State College Area HsA+ · 80% proficient
- Bellefonte Area HsA+ · 80% proficient
- Philipsburg-osceola Area HsD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Port Matilda school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Port Matilda 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 Port Matilda against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Port Matilda
Is Port Matilda a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Port Matilda ranks 815th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on population health, health care access, and good schools, and lowest on childcare costs and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Port Matilda expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $399,799. The overall cost of living runs about 1% below the national average. Set against a $111,389 median income, cost of living beats 89% of towns.
Is Port Matilda safe?
Yes, Port Matilda is safer than 83% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $182 per resident a year.
Compare Port Matilda with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Port Matilda. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Port Matilda 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.
Port Matilda detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Port Matilda: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Port Matilda: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Port Matilda: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Port Matilda: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Port Matilda 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.