Best PlacesState College, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the State College metro, 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.
State College ranks 37th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on good schools and population health. The weaker spots are taxes, state infrastructure, and childcare costs.
The best neighborhoods in the State College metro
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.
The best areas in State College
The towns and districts of the State College metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Park Forest Village & Port Matilda
Local pay stretches further, more adults hold degrees, and incomes run higher.
Downtown State College
Biking is better and streets are more walkable.
Dale Summit & Pleasant Gap
Fewer households have young kids and tree cover is thinner.
Bellefonte & Howard
Crime runs lower and prices have run up less.
Philipsburg
More homes sit empty and it is noisier.
Centre Hall & Spring Mills
Health outcomes score lower and commutes are longer.
Scores across State College run from about the 30th to the 100th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
State College's strengths and weaknesses
State College ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Good schools is the standout, in the top 1% of metro areas. Population health and low disaster risk follow.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Taxes, state infrastructure, and childcare costs hold the score down. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where State College ranks high
- School gradeA, better than 99% of metro areas
- Health outlookBetter than 98% of metro areas
- Disaster safetyBetter than 97% of metro areas
- Heat safetyBetter than 97% of metro areas
- Educational attainmentBetter than 97% of metro areas
Where State College ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 14% of metro areas
- State infrastructureBetter than only 15% of metro areas
- Cheap childcare$1,135 a month, better than only 24% of metro areas
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 28% of metro areas
- Low vacancyBetter than only 29% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in State College
A household needs to earn about $91,000 a year to comfortably buy the median State College home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $78,477, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 State College's effective rate of 1.01%, 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 State College
State College runs younger 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 State College.
Who works in State College, and how
Work in State College centers on education and hospitality & food. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 66%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 20%
Life in State College
State College has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most metro areas and more parkland per resident than 90% of metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of State College and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is State College growing, and who is moving in?
State College has held roughly flat in population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Philadelphia, PA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving State College go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in State College, month by month
State College sees roughly 83 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 State College
The nearest airport, State College Regional, is about 4 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 126 miles away.
The best schools in and around State College
Schools across State College average an A, better than 99% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Ferguson Twp El SchA+ · 95% proficient
- Gray's Woods El SchA+ · 95% proficient
- Radio Park El SchA+ · 95% proficient
Top middle schools
- Park Forest MsA+ · 70% proficient
- Mount Nittany MsA− · 55% proficient
- Centre Learning Community CsB · 47% proficient
Top high schools
- State College Area HsA+ · 80% proficient
- Bellefonte Area HsA+ · 80% proficient
- Huntingdon Area ShsA− · 65% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every State College school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
State College 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 State College against the other 386 metro areas.
Who State College suits
Common questions about living in State College
Is State College a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, State College ranks 37th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on good schools, population health, and low disaster risk, and lowest on taxes and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is State College expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $339,433. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $78,477 median income, cost of living beats 29% of metro areas.
Is State College safe?
Yes, State College is safer than 61% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $272 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in State College?
July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 36 with lows near 23. That works out to about 83 pleasant days a year, more than 43% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in State College?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Park Forest Village & Port Matilda, Downtown State College, and Dale Summit & Pleasant Gap. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is State College good for families?
Schools beat 99% of metro areas, crime safety beats 61%, and childcare runs $1,135 a month.
Is State College good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 29% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 33% of metro areas. About 15% of workers already work from home.
Compare State College with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to State College. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in State College 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.
State College detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for State College: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in State College: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of State College: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in State College: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
State College 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.