Best PlacesWest Damascus, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around West Damascus, 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.
West Damascus ranks 10,192nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in West Damascus
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.
West Damascus' strengths and weaknesses
Where West Damascus ranks high
- School gradeA, better than 92% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 92% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 91% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 89% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 88% of towns
Where West Damascus ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 10% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 68 pleasant days a year, better than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in West Damascus
A household needs to earn about $76,000 a year to comfortably buy the median West Damascus home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $71,181; 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 West Damascus' effective rate of 1.02%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in West Damascus
West Damascus 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 West Damascus.
Who works in West Damascus, and how
Work in West Damascus centers on retail trade and education. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in West Damascus
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across West Damascus.
What the weather is like in West Damascus, month by month
West Damascus sees roughly 68 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 17. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 26° | 17° |
| April | 58° | 45° | 34° |
| July | 83° | 71° | 59° |
| October | 63° | 51° | 41° |
Flying in and out of West Damascus
The nearest airport, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International, is about 36 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Newark Liberty International, about 88 miles away.
The best schools in and around West Damascus
Schools across West Damascus average an A, better than 92% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Damascus Area SchA+ · 80% proficient
Top middle schools
- Wayne Highlands MsA− · 55% proficient
Top high schools
- Honesdale HsA · 75% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every West Damascus school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
West Damascus 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 West Damascus against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in West Damascus
Is West Damascus a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, West Damascus ranks 10,192nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, big-city access, and health care access, and lowest on an overheated housing market and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is West Damascus expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $281,145. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $71,181 median income, cost of living beats 52% of towns.
Is West Damascus safe?
Yes, West Damascus is safer than 89% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $158 per resident a year.
Compare West Damascus with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to West Damascus. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in West Damascus 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.
West Damascus detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for West Damascus: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in West Damascus: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of West Damascus: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in West Damascus: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
West Damascus 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.