Best PlacesShade Gap, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Shade Gap, 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.
Shade Gap ranks 35,563rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Long commutes pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on big-city access.
The best neighborhoods in Shade Gap
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.
Shade Gap's strengths and weaknesses
Where Shade Gap ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 85% of towns
- School gradeB+, better than 83% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 82% of towns
- Cheap childcare$663 a month, better than 71% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 71% of towns
Where Shade Gap ranks low
- Short commute43.0 minutes each way, better than only 3% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 10% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 10% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 23% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Shade Gap
A household needs to earn about $50,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Shade Gap home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $67,609, 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 Shade Gap's effective rate of 0.57%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Shade Gap
Shade Gap runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Shade Gap.
Who works in Shade Gap, and how
Work in Shade Gap centers on manufacturing and construction. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Shade Gap
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Shade Gap.
What the weather is like in Shade Gap, month by month
Shade Gap sees roughly 73 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 39, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39° | 30° | 21° |
| April | 65° | 51° | 39° |
| July | 86° | 73° | 62° |
| October | 68° | 55° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Shade Gap
The nearest airport, Altoona/Blair County, is about 26 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Washington Dulles International, about 86 miles away.
The best schools in and around Shade Gap
Schools across Shade Gap average a B+, better than 83% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Shade Gap El SchA+ · 90% proficient
Top middle schools
- Fannett-metal MsC− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Fannett-metal ShsA− · 60% proficient
- Southern Huntingdon Co Hs/msB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Shade Gap school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Shade Gap 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 Shade Gap against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Shade Gap
Is Shade Gap a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Shade Gap ranks 35,563rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, good schools, and low disaster risk, and lowest on long commutes and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Shade Gap expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $199,080. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $67,609 median income, cost of living beats 31% of towns.
Is Shade Gap safe?
Shade Gap is safer than 34% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $301 per resident a year.
Compare Shade Gap with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Shade Gap. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Shade Gap 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.
Shade Gap detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Shade Gap: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Shade Gap: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Shade Gap: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Shade Gap: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Shade Gap 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.