Best PlacesWest End Theatre District, Allentown, PA Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood in and around West End Theatre District, Allentown, 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.

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West End Theatre District, Allentown ranks 2,978th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. Property taxes pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on cell coverage.

#2,978
of 5,983 neighborhoods
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
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of 5,983 neighborhoods
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The best neighborhoods in West End Theatre District, Allentown

Map of the best neighborhoods in the West End Theatre District, Allentown area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
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National median
Worse match Better match
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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 End Theatre District, Allentown's strengths and weaknesses

Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare West End Theatre District, Allentown with other neighborhoods.

Where West End Theatre District, Allentown ranks high

  • Cell coverageBetter than 88% of neighborhoods
  • Disaster safetyBetter than 82% of neighborhoods
  • Cheap car insuranceBetter than 82% of neighborhoods
  • Cheap childcare$865 a month, better than 80% of neighborhoods
  • WalkabilityBetter than 80% of neighborhoods

Where West End Theatre District, Allentown ranks low

  • Low property taxBetter than only 5% of neighborhoods
  • Nice weatherabout 58 pleasant days a year, better than only 5% of neighborhoods
  • Internet speedBetter than only 14% of neighborhoods
  • State infrastructureBetter than only 14% of neighborhoods
  • BikingBetter than only 23% of neighborhoods

What it costs to buy a home in West End Theatre District, Allentown

A household needs to earn about $73,000 a year to comfortably buy the median West End Theatre District, Allentown home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $69,848; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.

Income to buy the median home
$73,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$1,697
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $241,142 home
Median rent
$1,316
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$1,230
Property tax$387
Homeowners insurance$80

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 End Theatre District, Allentown's effective rate of 1.93%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in West End Theatre District, Allentown

West End Theatre District, Allentown runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.

Median age
43
older than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
20%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.2
below the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1818%
18 to 3423%
35 to 4919%
50 to 6420%
65 and older20%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for West End Theatre District, Allentown.


Who works in West End Theatre District, Allentown, and how

Work in West End Theatre District, Allentown centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.

Work from home
15%
about the national average
Unemployment
5.5%
above the national average
Job growth
−2.2%
/y 2019-2023, slower than the national pace

Largest industries

Health care & social16%
Retail trade13%
Transportation & warehousing12%
Manufacturing10%
Education9%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 82%
  • Work from home 15%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 4%

Life in West End Theatre District, Allentown

West End Theatre District, Allentown has more restaurants and bars per resident than 70% of neighborhoods. That concentrates in some parts of West End Theatre District, Allentown and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
41
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 62.7 per 10,000 residents, more than 70% of neighborhoods

What the weather is like in West End Theatre District, Allentown, month by month

West End Theatre District, Allentown sees roughly 58 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January41°32°22°
April66°53°40°
July89°77°65°
October69°57°45°

Flying in and out of West End Theatre District, Allentown

The nearest airport, Lehigh Valley International, is about 5 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Philadelphia International, about 53 miles away.

Nearest airport
ABE
Lehigh Valley International, about 5 miles
Airport size
Nonhub
145th-busiest in the US, 34 nonstop destinations
Average drive
8 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around West End Theatre District, Allentown

Schools across West End Theatre District, Allentown average a C−, better than 25% of neighborhoods.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every West End Theatre District, Allentown school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


West End Theatre District, Allentown 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 End Theatre District, Allentown against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.


Common questions about living in West End Theatre District, Allentown

Is West End Theatre District, Allentown a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, West End Theatre District, Allentown ranks 2,978th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on cell coverage, low disaster risk, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on property taxes and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is West End Theatre District, Allentown expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $241,142. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $69,848 median income, cost of living beats 44% of neighborhoods.

Is West End Theatre District, Allentown safe?

Yes, West End Theatre District, Allentown is safer than 62% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $333 per resident a year.


Compare West End Theatre District, Allentown with other neighborhoods


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to West End Theatre District, Allentown. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in West End Theatre District, Allentown 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 End Theatre District, Allentown detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for West End Theatre District, Allentown: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in West End Theatre District, Allentown: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of West End Theatre District, Allentown: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in West End Theatre District, Allentown: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

West End Theatre District, Allentown detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. 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.
  2. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  3. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  4. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  5. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  6. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  7. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  8. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  9. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  10. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  12. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.