Best PlacesPort Penn, DE Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Port Penn, 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 Penn ranks 6,897th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on few empty homes by a wide margin, and the weather ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Port Penn
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 Penn's strengths and weaknesses
Where Port Penn ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 98% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 96% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 95% of towns
- Household income$128,678 median, better than 95% of towns
Where Port Penn ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 59 pleasant days a year, better than only 7% of towns
- Short commute37.6 minutes each way, better than only 8% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,109 a month, better than only 16% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 18% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Port Penn
A household needs to earn about $119,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Port Penn home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $128,678, 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 Penn's effective rate of 0.71%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Port Penn
Port Penn runs older than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Port Penn.
Who works in Port Penn, and how
Work in Port Penn centers on health care & social and finance & insurance. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 72%
- Work from home 24%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Port Penn
The coast is about 6 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Port Penn, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Port Penn, month by month
Port Penn sees roughly 59 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 35° | 26° |
| April | 68° | 55° | 43° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 69° |
| October | 72° | 59° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Port Penn
The nearest airport, New Castle, is about 11 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Philadelphia International, about 31 miles away.
The best schools in and around Port Penn
Schools across Port Penn average a C+, better than 51% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Elsinboro Township SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Top middle schools
- Redding (louis L.) Middle SchoolC− · 29% proficient
- Bedford (gunning) Middle SchoolD · 21% proficient
Top high schools
- Middletown High SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Penn (william) High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Salem High SchoolD · 22% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Port Penn school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Port Penn 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 Penn against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Port Penn
Is Port Penn a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Port Penn ranks 6,897th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on few empty homes, state infrastructure, and big-city access, and lowest on the weather and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Port Penn expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $460,171. The overall cost of living runs about 3% below the national average. Set against a $128,678 median income, cost of living beats 95% of towns.
Is Port Penn safe?
Port Penn is safer than 44% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $275 per resident a year.
Compare Port Penn with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Port Penn. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Port Penn 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 Penn detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Port Penn: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Port Penn: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Port Penn: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Port Penn: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Port Penn 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.