Best PlacesSwiftwater, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Swiftwater, 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.
Swiftwater ranks 17,092nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Swiftwater
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.
Swiftwater's strengths and weaknesses
Where Swiftwater ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 96% of towns
- TransitBetter than 92% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 88% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 88% of towns
Where Swiftwater ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 11% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 11% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Swiftwater
A household needs to earn about $83,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Swiftwater home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $104,236, 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 Swiftwater's effective rate of 1.48%, 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 Swiftwater
Swiftwater's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Swiftwater.
Who works in Swiftwater, and how
Work in Swiftwater centers on hospitality & food and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Swiftwater
Swiftwater has more restaurants and bars per resident than 95% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Swiftwater and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Swiftwater, month by month
Swiftwater sees roughly 77 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 17. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 25° | 17° |
| April | 58° | 45° | 34° |
| July | 81° | 70° | 59° |
| October | 62° | 51° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Swiftwater
The nearest airport, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International, is about 27 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Newark Liberty International, about 66 miles away.
The best schools in and around Swiftwater
Schools across Swiftwater average a B, better than 67% of towns.
Top middle schools
- Swiftwater Interm SchA+ · 80% proficient
- Pocono Mountain East JhsB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Pocono Mountain East HsB− · 45% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Swiftwater school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Swiftwater 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 Swiftwater against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Swiftwater
Is Swiftwater a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Swiftwater ranks 17,092nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on heat safety, big-city access, and transit, and lowest on an overheated housing market and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Swiftwater expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $289,901. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $104,236 median income, cost of living beats 88% of towns.
Is Swiftwater safe?
Swiftwater is safer than 28% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $338 per resident a year.
Compare Swiftwater with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Swiftwater. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Swiftwater 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.
Swiftwater detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Swiftwater: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Swiftwater: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Swiftwater: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Swiftwater: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Swiftwater 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.