Best PlacesThornton, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Thornton, 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.
Thornton ranks 375th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on high incomes by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Thornton
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.
Thornton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Thornton ranks high
- Household income$189,059 median, better than 99% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 99% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 98% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 98% of towns
Where Thornton ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 13% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 18% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 19% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,057 a month, better than only 21% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Thornton
A household needs to earn about $206,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Thornton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $189,059; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Thornton's effective rate of 1.23%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Thornton
Thornton runs older than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Thornton.
Who works in Thornton, and how
Work in Thornton centers on professional & technical and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 19%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Thornton
The coast is about 42 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Thornton, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Thornton, month by month
Thornton sees roughly 109 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 32° | 25° |
| April | 64° | 52° | 43° |
| July | 85° | 75° | 66° |
| October | 67° | 56° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Thornton
The nearest airport, New Castle, is about 16 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Philadelphia International, about 16 miles away.
The best schools in and around Thornton
Schools across Thornton average an A, better than 97% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Sarah W Starkweather El SchA+ · 98% proficient
- Westtown-thornbury El SchA+ · 90% proficient
Top middle schools
- Stetson MsA+ · 75% proficient
- Garnet Valley MsA · 61% proficient
- Kennett MsB− · 42% proficient
Top high schools
- Garnet Valley HsA+ · 87% proficient
- West Chester Bayard Rustin HsA · 73% proficient
- Kennett HsC− · 29% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Thornton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Thornton 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 Thornton against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Thornton
Is Thornton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Thornton ranks 375th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on high incomes, what local pay buys, and heat safety, 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 Thornton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $745,019. The overall cost of living runs about 7% above the national average. Set against a $189,059 median income, cost of living beats 99% of towns.
Is Thornton safe?
Thornton is safer than 52% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $252 per resident a year.
Compare Thornton with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Thornton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Thornton 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.
Thornton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Thornton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Thornton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Thornton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Thornton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Thornton 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.