Best PlacesTower City, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Tower City, 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.
Tower City ranks 21,990th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Tower City
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.
Tower City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Tower City ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 97% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 97% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 91% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 87% of towns
- School gradeB+, better than 78% of towns
Where Tower City ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 19% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 68 pleasant days a year, better than only 21% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 21% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 24% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Tower City
A household needs to earn about $37,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Tower City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $71,862, 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 Tower City's 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Tower City
Tower City'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 Tower City.
Who works in Tower City, and how
Work in Tower City centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Tower City
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Tower City.
What the weather is like in Tower City, month by month
Tower City sees roughly 68 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 40, 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 | 40° | 31° | 22° |
| April | 66° | 53° | 41° |
| July | 88° | 76° | 64° |
| October | 69° | 56° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Tower City
The nearest airport, Harrisburg International, is about 30 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Philadelphia International, about 85 miles away.
The best schools in and around Tower City
Schools across Tower City average a B+, better than 78% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Pine Grove El SchA+ · 85% proficient
- Williams Valley El SchA− · 60% proficient
Top middle schools
- Pine Grove Area MsB · 45% proficient
Top high schools
- Williams Valley JshsB · 50% proficient
- Pine Grove Area HsB− · 45% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Tower City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Tower City 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 Tower City against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Tower City
Is Tower City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Tower City ranks 21,990th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cell coverage, fast internet, and big-city access, and lowest on civic engagement and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Tower City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $136,535. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $71,862 median income, cost of living beats 56% of towns.
Is Tower City safe?
Tower City is safer than 45% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $271 per resident a year.
Compare Tower City with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Tower City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Tower City 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.
Tower City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Tower City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Tower City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Tower City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Tower City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Tower City 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.