Best PlacesWillow Grove, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Willow Grove, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Willow Grove ranks 2,967th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Willow Grove
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.
Willow Grove's strengths and weaknesses
Where Willow Grove ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- TransitBetter than 99% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 96% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 96% of towns
Where Willow Grove ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 3% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 61 pleasant days a year, better than only 10% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,296 a month, better than only 10% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 16% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Willow Grove
A household needs to earn about $106,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Willow Grove home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $106,706, 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 Willow Grove's effective rate of 1.29%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Willow Grove
Willow Grove runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Willow Grove.
Who works in Willow Grove, and how
Work in Willow Grove centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 75%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Willow Grove
Willow Grove has more restaurants and bars per resident than 85% of towns and more parkland per resident than 92% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Willow Grove and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Willow Grove, month by month
Willow Grove sees roughly 61 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 36° | 26° |
| April | 68° | 55° | 43° |
| July | 91° | 80° | 69° |
| October | 72° | 60° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Willow Grove
The nearest airport, Trenton Mercer, is about 19 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Philadelphia International, about 20 miles away.
The best schools in and around Willow Grove
Schools across Willow Grove average an A−, better than 86% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Fitzwater El SchA+ · 85% proficient
- Simmons El SchA · 72% proficient
- Highland SchA · 67% proficient
Top middle schools
- Sandy Run MsA+ · 71% proficient
- Upper Moreland MsA− · 55% proficient
- Keith Valley MsB+ · 49% proficient
Top high schools
- Upper Dublin HsA+ · 91% proficient
- Upper Moreland HsA · 70% proficient
- Hatboro-horsham ShsA · 67% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Willow Grove school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Willow Grove 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 Willow Grove against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Willow Grove suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 85% of towns, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 18% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Willow Grove
Is Willow Grove a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Willow Grove ranks 2,967th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, transit, and big-city access, and lowest on noise and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Willow Grove expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $379,049. The overall cost of living runs about 0% below the national average. Set against a $106,706 median income, cost of living beats 85% of towns.
Is Willow Grove safe?
Willow Grove is safer than 45% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $305 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Willow Grove?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 45 with lows near 26. That works out to about 61 pleasant days a year, more than 10% of towns.
Is Willow Grove good for families?
Schools beat 86% of towns, crime safety beats 45%, and childcare runs $1,296 a month.
Compare Willow Grove with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Willow Grove. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Willow Grove 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.
Willow Grove detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Willow Grove: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Willow Grove: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Willow Grove: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Willow Grove: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Willow Grove 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.