Best PlacesVenango County, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Venango 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.
Venango County ranks 1,805th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Venango 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 Venango County
The parts of Venango 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.
Oil City
More households have young kids, streets are more walkable, and fewer homes sit empty.
Sugarcreek
Tree cover is thinner and incomes run lower.
Franklin
Commutes are shorter, though disaster risk is higher.
Scores across Venango County run from about the 5th to the 79th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Venango County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Venango County ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 93% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than 88% of counties
- School gradeB+, better than 83% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 72% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 70% of counties
Where Venango County ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 8% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 14% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 15% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 22% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 23% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Venango County
A household needs to earn about $35,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Venango County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $62,165, 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 Venango County's effective rate of 1.30%, 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 Venango County
Venango 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 Venango County.
Who works in Venango County, and how
Work in Venango County centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Venango County
Venango County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and more parkland per resident than 71% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Venango County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Venango County growing, and who is moving in?
Venango County has lost about 7% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Pittsburgh, PA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Venango County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Venango County, month by month
Venango County sees roughly 75 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 26° | 19° |
| April | 60° | 48° | 37° |
| July | 82° | 71° | 60° |
| October | 64° | 52° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Venango County
The nearest airport, Dubois Regional, is about 48 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 68 miles away.
The best schools in and around Venango County
Schools across Venango County average a B+, better than 83% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Hydetown El SchA+ · 80% proficient
- Pleasantville El SchA+ · 80% proficient
- Valley Grove El SchA+ · 80% proficient
Top middle schools
- Oil City Area MsC · 35% proficient
- Titusville MsC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Oil City ShsA · 70% proficient
- Rocky Grove JshsA− · 60% proficient
- Cranberry Area JshsB · 47% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Venango County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Venango 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 Venango County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Venango County suits
Common questions about living in Venango County
Is Venango County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Venango County ranks 1,805th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on heat safety, tree cover, and good schools, and lowest on a weak job market and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Venango County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $126,012. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $62,165 median income, cost of living beats 22% of counties.
Is Venango County safe?
Venango County is safer than 52% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $313 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Venango County?
July highs average about 82 degrees, and January highs near 35 with lows near 19. That works out to about 75 pleasant days a year, more than 30% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Venango County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Oil City, Sugarcreek, and Franklin. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Venango County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Venango County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Venango 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.
Venango County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Venango County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Venango County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Venango County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Venango County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Venango 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.