Best PlacesTioga County, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Tioga County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Tioga County ranks 1,317th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Tioga County
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 Tioga County
The parts of Tioga County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Wellsboro
Fewer homes sit empty, more adults hold degrees, and commutes are shorter.
Mansfield
Tree cover is thinner and it is noisier.
Westfield
Schools score higher and homes cost less.
Scores across Tioga County run from about the 18th to the 71st percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Tioga County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Tioga County ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 94% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than 88% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than 84% of counties
- School gradeB+, better than 84% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 81% of counties
Where Tioga County ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 14% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 14% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 66 pleasant days a year, better than only 14% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than only 23% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 23% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Tioga County
A household needs to earn about $50,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Tioga County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $64,991, 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 Tioga County's effective rate of 1.02%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Tioga County
Tioga County 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 Tioga County.
Who works in Tioga County, and how
Work in Tioga County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Tioga County
Tioga County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 83% of counties and less parkland per resident than most counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Tioga County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Tioga County growing, and who is moving in?
Tioga County has lost about 3% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Bradford County, PA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Tioga County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Tioga County, month by month
Tioga County sees roughly 66 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38° | 28° | 18° |
| April | 62° | 47° | 34° |
| July | 87° | 72° | 58° |
| October | 67° | 53° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Tioga County
The nearest airport, Elmira/Corning Regional, is about 29 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Philadelphia International, about 169 miles away.
The best schools in and around Tioga County
Schools across Tioga County average a B+, better than 84% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Russell B Walter El SchA · 70% proficient
- Westfield Area El SchA · 70% proficient
- Clark Wood El SchA · 70% proficient
Top middle schools
- Rock L Butler MsA− · 55% proficient
- Corning-painted Post Middle SchoolB · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- Corning-painted Post High SchoolA+ · 92% proficient
- Cowanesque Valley JshsA− · 60% proficient
- Williamson ShsB+ · 55% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Tioga County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Tioga County 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 Tioga County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Tioga County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 8% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Tioga County
Is Tioga County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Tioga County ranks 1,317th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low disaster risk, tree cover, and clean air, 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 Tioga County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $185,653. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $64,991 median income, cost of living beats 44% of counties.
Is Tioga County safe?
Yes, Tioga County is safer than 58% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $274 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Tioga County?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 38 with lows near 18. That works out to about 66 pleasant days a year, more than 14% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Tioga County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Wellsboro, Mansfield, and Westfield. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Tioga County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Tioga County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Tioga County 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.
Tioga County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Tioga County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Tioga County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Tioga County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Tioga County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Tioga County 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.