Best PlacesWagner, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Wagner, 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.
Wagner ranks 29,967th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and thin health care access ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Wagner
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.
Wagner's strengths and weaknesses
Where Wagner ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 89% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 86% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 84% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 80% of towns
Where Wagner ranks low
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 11% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 19% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Wagner
A household needs to earn about $46,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wagner home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $56,995, 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 Wagner's effective rate of 1.20%, 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 Wagner
Wagner 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 Wagner.
Who works in Wagner, and how
Work in Wagner centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Wagner
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Wagner.
What the weather is like in Wagner, month by month
Wagner sees roughly 77 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 31° | 25° |
| April | 63° | 52° | 42° |
| July | 87° | 75° | 65° |
| October | 65° | 55° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Wagner
The nearest airport, State College Regional, is about 28 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall, about 110 miles away.
The best schools in and around Wagner
Schools across Wagner average a B−, better than 60% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Juniata El SchB · 45% proficient
- East Derry El SchC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Mifflin Co MsC · 34% proficient
- Tuscarora MsC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Juniata ShsA− · 65% proficient
- Mifflin Co HsA− · 59% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wagner school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wagner 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 Wagner against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Wagner
Is Wagner a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wagner ranks 29,967th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, few empty homes, and low disaster risk, and lowest on thin health care access and walkability. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Wagner expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $166,413. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $56,995 median income, cost of living beats 23% of towns.
Is Wagner safe?
Yes, Wagner is safer than 70% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $206 per resident a year.
Compare Wagner with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wagner. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wagner 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.
Wagner detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wagner: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wagner: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wagner: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wagner: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wagner 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.