Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 4,462, settled in 1900.
Donora gives you more for your money than most places: a typical home costs about $42K, less than a year of the Pittsburgh metro’s $76K median household income. It grades C+ overall, 797th among Pennsylvania's 1032 graded towns. The low prices come with trade-offs. Residents are less healthy than 96% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates, and the median household income is $40K, and 30% of residents live below the poverty line. On the plus side, it is more walkable than 91% of U.S. towns. 30% of residents live below the poverty line in Donora, above both the Pennsylvania town median (7.6%) and the median of U.S. towns (9.6%). Of the 314 Pennsylvania towns we compare, none has a lower typical home value than Donora. Donora has 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Webster Donora Bridge and Cement City Historic District.
Where Donora beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Where Donora’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Pennsylvania), ordered by how far Donora is from typical.
Its grades run from A for walkability (better than 91% of comparable towns) to D− for health (better than 4%), so the C+ overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 8,174 in 1910, a peak of 14,131 in 1920, 4,569 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1901 and 7 maps from 1902 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Donora. Close and well known come first.
Big draw28 mi MuseumFallingwater
Big draw20 mi Stadium & arenaAcrisure Stadium
14 mi Theme parkKennywood
20 mi LandmarkFort Duquesne
20 mi Stadium & arenaPNC Park
19 mi Stadium & arenaPPG Paints ArenaFallingwater: Carol M. Highsmith, Public domain · Acrisure Stadium: Fo2grfr, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Kennywood: Ski2007 of English Wikipedia, Public domain · Fort Duquesne: Sébastien Paquin, CC BY-SA 3.0 · PNC Park: alpineinc, CC BY 2.0 · PPG Paints Arena: Jleedev, CC BY-SA 4.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Donora, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Donora.
Donora is healthier than towns with similar incomes and has homes that are cheap against local pay, but it has poverty well above the Pennsylvania rate.
At 0.6 years of the Pittsburgh metro’s $76K median household income, the typical home (about $42K) costs less against local pay than in any other Pennsylvania town; that ratio is one input to its A− for cost of living. The typical value, about $42K, is 32% below its September 2024 peak.
53% of Donora households own their home. The typical Donora home is worth about $42,000, down 1% in a year, 85% below the Pennsylvania typical home. The median rent in Donora is $916 a month.
| Donora | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 53% | 78% | 73% |
| Median rent | $916 a month | $1,116 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Against the 2,256 U.S. towns with household incomes like Donora’s, it is less healthy than 73%, so its D− isn’t only a matter of income.
24% of adults smoke cigarettes in Donora. Donora beats the Pennsylvania average on 0 of 26 CDC measures and trails it on 18. 33% of adults get no exercise outside work in Donora.
| Donora | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 24% | 16% | 14% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 46% | 35% | 35% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 14% | 14% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 19% | 19% |
| What stands out | Donora | PA |
|---|---|---|
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 24.3% | 14.5% |
| More uninsured adults | 9.4% | 5.8% |
| More adults with COPD | 11.6% | 7.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Donora’s average trip to work is 31 minutes. Most working residents leave Donora for work: only 10% work in town. Since 2013, Donora has lost 74 jobs, to 994 in 2023.
| Donora | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $40,000 | $81,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 31 minutes | 26 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 9.8% | 6.3% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Pennsylvania has less reported crime than most states, so among its own towns Donora sits closer to the middle.
| Donora | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 4.5 per 1,000 residents | 5.7 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 1.1 per 1,000 residents | 0.7 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Donora has chilly winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 84°, January nights drop to 22° and about 21 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The biggest park or preserve is Palmer Park, at 126 acres.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Palmer Park | — | 126 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 52% of U.S. communities. Since 1979, 2 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Donora.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
3 within 15 miles of the center of Donora
About 4 of every 100 Donora residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Pennsylvania.
2 places in Donora on the National Register of Historic Places.
14 notable people were born in Donora.
Borough in Pennsylvania, US
Donora is a borough in Washington County, Pennsylvania, United States, approximately 20 miles (32 km) south of Pittsburgh along the Monongahela River. The population was 4,558 as of the 2020 census. Donora was incorporated in 1901. It takes its name from a portmanteau of tin plate and steel magnate William Donner and Nora Mellon (1878–1973), wife of banker Andrew W. Mellon. The borough's nickname is "The Home of Champions", mainly because of the large number of famous athletes who have called Donora their home, including Baseball Hall of Fame outfielders Stan Musial and Ken Griffey Jr. During the 1948 Donora smog, air pollution killed 20 people and caused respiratory problems for 6,000 of t…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
3 towns share a border with Donora.
| Town | PA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Donora | #797 | C+ | A− | B+ | C | D− |
| Carroll Township | #367 | A− | A | A+ | C | B− |
| Rostraver Township | #788 | C+ | B | C | B− | B− |
| Webster | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Webster isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Donora with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Donora grades C+ overall, better than 40% of U.S. towns and #797 of 1032 in Pennsylvania. It grades D− for health, B+ for safety and C for schools. Health is its weak spot, with a D−.
Yes, by national standards. Pennsylvania has less crime than most states, so among its own towns Donora sits nearer the middle.
14 notable people were born here, including Ken Griffey Jr. and Stan Musial.
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