Best PlacesPottsville, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Pottsville, 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.
Pottsville ranks 20,645th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Pottsville
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.
Pottsville's strengths and weaknesses
Where Pottsville ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 94% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 92% of towns
- BikingBetter than 87% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 86% of towns
Where Pottsville ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 7% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 63 pleasant days a year, better than only 13% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 18% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 26% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Pottsville
A household needs to earn about $41,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Pottsville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $65,719, 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 Pottsville's effective rate of 1.67%, 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 Pottsville
Pottsville 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 Pottsville.
Who works in Pottsville, and how
Work in Pottsville centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Pottsville
Pottsville has more restaurants and bars per resident than 82% of towns and more parkland per resident than 89% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Pottsville and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Pottsville, month by month
Pottsville sees roughly 63 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 33° | 24° |
| April | 67° | 54° | 42° |
| July | 90° | 78° | 67° |
| October | 71° | 58° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Pottsville
The nearest airport, Lancaster, is about 39 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Philadelphia International, about 76 miles away.
The best schools in and around Pottsville
Schools across Pottsville average a B+, better than 77% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Clarke El CtrA · 65% proficient
- Blue Mountain El East SchA · 62% proficient
- Saint Clair Area El/msA− · 60% proficient
Top middle schools
- Blue Mountain MsB+ · 48% proficient
- Lengel MsB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Pottsville Area HsA− · 60% proficient
- Blue Mountain HsB− · 43% proficient
- North Schuylkill JshsC+ · 39% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Pottsville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Pottsville 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 Pottsville against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Pottsville
Is Pottsville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Pottsville ranks 20,645th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, cell coverage, and big-city access, and lowest on property taxes and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Pottsville expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $141,048. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $65,719 median income, cost of living beats 45% of towns.
Is Pottsville safe?
Pottsville is safer than 26% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $358 per resident a year.
Compare Pottsville with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Pottsville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Pottsville 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.
Pottsville detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Pottsville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Pottsville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Pottsville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Pottsville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Pottsville 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.