Best PlacesTamaqua, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Tamaqua, 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.
Tamaqua ranks 17,706th 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 Tamaqua
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.
Tamaqua's strengths and weaknesses
Where Tamaqua ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 94% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 92% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 90% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 87% of towns
Where Tamaqua ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 13% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 14% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 66 pleasant days a year, better than only 18% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Tamaqua
A household needs to earn about $42,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Tamaqua home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $68,942, 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 Tamaqua's effective rate of 1.63%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Tamaqua
Tamaqua'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 Tamaqua.
Who works in Tamaqua, and how
Work in Tamaqua centers on health care & social and transportation & warehousing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Tamaqua
Tamaqua has more restaurants and bars per resident than 84% of towns and more parkland per resident than 89% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Tamaqua and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Tamaqua, month by month
Tamaqua sees roughly 66 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 32° | 22° |
| April | 66° | 53° | 40° |
| July | 89° | 77° | 65° |
| October | 69° | 57° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Tamaqua
The nearest airport, Lehigh Valley International, is about 29 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Philadelphia International, about 75 miles away.
The best schools in and around Tamaqua
Schools across Tamaqua average an A, better than 92% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Tamaqua El SchA+ · 75% proficient
- West Penn Twp El SchA− · 60% proficient
- Saint Clair Area El/msA− · 60% proficient
Top middle schools
- Tamaqua Area MsB+ · 50% proficient
Top high schools
- Tamaqua Area ShsA · 75% proficient
- Hazleton Area HsC+ · 37% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Tamaqua school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Tamaqua 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 Tamaqua against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Tamaqua
Is Tamaqua a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Tamaqua ranks 17,706th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, big-city access, and good schools, and lowest on property taxes and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Tamaqua expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $145,510. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $68,942 median income, cost of living beats 48% of towns.
Is Tamaqua safe?
Tamaqua is safer than 42% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $285 per resident a year.
Compare Tamaqua with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Tamaqua. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Tamaqua 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.
Tamaqua detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Tamaqua: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Tamaqua: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Tamaqua: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Tamaqua: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Tamaqua 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.