Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 1,741, settled in 1870.
Forest City’s best subject grades are an A+ for safety, an A for walkability, and an A− for cost of living; its weakest is a C− for incomes. Forest City has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Forest City beats most towns.
Where Forest City’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 Forest City is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 993 in 1870, a peak of 6,004 in 1920, 1,780 in 2020. The archive holds 4 old photos and papers going back to 1889 and 4 maps from 1892 on.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Forest City, 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 Forest City.
In Forest City, the level of property crime is 0.2 per 1,000 residents.
| Forest City | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.2 per 1,000 residents | 5.7 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.2 per 1,000 residents | 0.7 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Its two schools are below. The largest public high school is Forest City Regional HS, with 348 students. Forest City Regional SD runs its public schools.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forest City Regional El SchLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–6 | Grades PK–6 | 434 | C+ |
| Forest City Regional HSLargest public high schoolGrades 7–12 | Grades 7–12 | 348 | B− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within PA on state tests and graduation
20% of adults smoke cigarettes in Forest City, where Pennsylvania’s towns sit at 17% and U.S. towns at 14%. Among adults here, 41% sleep under 7 hours.
| Forest City | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 17% | 14% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 14% | 14% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 41% | 38% | 36% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 24% | 25% |
| What stands out | Forest City | PA |
|---|---|---|
| More uninsured adults | 8.1% | 5.8% |
| More adults with COPD | 10.2% | 7.7% |
| More adults with heart disease | 9.5% | 7.4% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Employers in Forest City shed 53 jobs between 2013 and 2023, to 470. In Forest City, 17% of residents live below the poverty line. Forest City’s mean commuting time stands at 23 minutes, against 26 minutes in Pennsylvania’s towns and 25 minutes across U.S. towns. The typical household income in the town is $57,000.
| Forest City | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 17% | 7.6% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $57,000 | $81,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 23 minutes | 26 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 9.4% | 6.3% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
For Forest City, the rent at the middle of the market is $879 a month. The share of households in Forest City who own their home: 67%.
| Forest City | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 67% | 78% | 73% |
| Median rent | $879 a month | $1,115 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Summers in Forest City are pleasant, and winters cold, snowy, with plenty of rain. July afternoons reach 79°, January nights drop to 15° and about 69 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Of the losses FEMA expects in Forest City, 79% come from inland flooding and 7% from tornadoes. FEMA expects more storm and flood damage here than in 62% of U.S. communities. Households in the town have drawn federal disaster aid in 3 declared disasters, most recently in 2006.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Forest City has one park or preserve, 16 acres in all.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Kennedy Park | — | 16 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Forest City. Close and well known come first.
20 mi LakeLake Wallenpaupack
20 mi National Historic SiteSteamtown National Historic Site61K visitors a year7 mi Ski areaElk Mountain Ski Resort28 runs · 908 ft vertical24 mi Theme parkRocky Glen Park
23 mi Ski areaMontage Mountain Ski Area25 runs · 998 ft vertical
20 mi City parkNay Aug ParkLake Wallenpaupack: Doug Kerr from Albany, NY, United States, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Steamtown National Historic Site: National Park Service, Public domain · Montage Mountain Ski Area: Montage Mountain Resorts, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Nay Aug Park: The Mebane Greeting Card Co., Wilkes-Barre, PA., Public domain
None within 15 miles of Forest City; the nearest are
About 4 of every 100 Forest City residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Pennsylvania.
4 notable people were born in Forest City.
Borough in the United States
Forest City is a borough in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, United States, situated at the corner of Susquehanna, Lackawanna and Wayne counties and is designated by a marker which is located in the Forest City Industrial Park. Forest City is four avenues by 10 blocks as the 'main city', with a small surrounding suburb housing 1,748 in the 2020 census, with 87% of the population living 'in town'. At its height in the early twentieth century, between the timber, silk, lumber and coal industries, the population was close to 6,000—a booming town with a busy Main Street.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
3 towns share a border with Forest City.
| Town | PA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forest City | — | — | A− | A+ | B | C− |
| Clinton Township | — | — | C− | — | B | B− |
| Vandling | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Clifford Township | — | — | C+ | — | B | B− |
Forest City, Clinton Township and Clifford Township have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Clinton Township and Clifford Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Vandling isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Forest City with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades A−.
4 notable people were born here, including Pat O'Malley and Harry Lumley.
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}