Best PlacesTarrs, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Tarrs, 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.
Tarrs ranks 13,976th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Tarrs
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.
Tarrs' strengths and weaknesses
Where Tarrs ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 91% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 88% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 84% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 83% of towns
Where Tarrs ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 8% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 17% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 27% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 30% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Tarrs
A household needs to earn about $44,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Tarrs home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $74,217, 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 Tarrs' effective rate of 1.01%, 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 3 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Tarrs
Tarrs 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 Tarrs.
Who works in Tarrs, and how
Work in Tarrs centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Tarrs
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Tarrs.
What the weather is like in Tarrs, month by month
Tarrs sees roughly 89 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38° | 31° | 24° |
| April | 63° | 52° | 42° |
| July | 84° | 74° | 65° |
| October | 65° | 55° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Tarrs
The nearest airport, Arnold Palmer Regional, is about 12 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 40 miles away.
The best schools in and around Tarrs
Schools across Tarrs average an A−, better than 91% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Southmoreland El SchA · 70% proficient
- Stanwood El SchA · 67% proficient
Top middle schools
- Southmoreland MsB · 45% proficient
- Mount Pleasant Area JhsC · 32% proficient
Top high schools
- Southmoreland ShsA+ · 80% proficient
- Mount Pleasant Area HsB+ · 55% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Tarrs school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Tarrs 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 Tarrs against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Tarrs
Is Tarrs a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Tarrs ranks 13,976th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, good schools, and an educated workforce, and lowest on noise and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Tarrs expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $161,786. The overall cost of living runs about 3% below the national average. Set against a $74,217 median income, cost of living beats 42% of towns.
Is Tarrs safe?
Yes, Tarrs is safer than 80% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $182 per resident a year.
Compare Tarrs with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Tarrs. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Tarrs 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.
Tarrs detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Tarrs: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Tarrs: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Tarrs: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Tarrs: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Tarrs 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.