Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 2,918, settled in 1869. Public schools that outperform most of Pennsylvania.
Forward Township gives you more for your money than most places: homes are within reach, about $166K for a typical one, or 2.2 years of the Pittsburgh metro’s $76K median household income. It grades B+ overall, ranked 433rd of 1032 in Pennsylvania. On the plus side, its public schools beat 88% of Pennsylvania towns on state tests and graduation. 11% of residents are under 18 in Forward Township, against 20% in Pennsylvania’s towns and 22% across U.S. towns. On walkability, just 116 of Pennsylvania’s 1,749 towns do worse. The biggest park or preserve is Whetzel Preserve, at 188 acres.
Where Forward Township beats most towns.
Where Forward Township’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 Forward Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 1,300 in 1870, a peak of 4,932 in 1920, 3,068 in 2020. The archive holds 5 old photos and papers going back to 2007 and 7 maps from 1902 on.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Forward Township. Close and well known come first.
Big draw32 mi MuseumFallingwater
Big draw16 mi Stadium & arenaAcrisure Stadium
11 mi Theme parkKennywood
16 mi LandmarkFort Duquesne
16 mi Stadium & arenaPNC Park
15 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 Forward Township, 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 Forward Township.
Forward Township pairs an A for schools with modest home prices and is healthier than towns with similar incomes, but it carries more natural-hazard risk than most of Pennsylvania (mostly inland flooding).
Its A for schools comes with a B+ for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $166K.
Its public schools are run by Elizabeth Forward SD. Its one school is below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| William Penn El SchLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–5 | Grades K–5 | 333 | B+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within PA on state tests and graduation
Most working residents leave Forward Township for work: only 3% work in town. Forward Township’s average trip to work is 31 minutes. Since 2013, Forward Township has lost 129 jobs, to 637 in 2023.
| Forward Township | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 31 minutes | 26 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $67,000 | $81,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 3.2% | 6.3% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
0.4 miles of trail in 2 parks and preserves.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Whetzel Preserve | — | 188 |
| 2. Gallatin/Sunnyside Riverfront Park | — | 5 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Forward Township has chilly winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 83°, January nights drop to 22° and about 21 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 87% of Pennsylvania towns, with expected losses of about $434 per resident a year; that rating is what its C for hazard risk is built on. 160 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 21 properties have flooded more than once.
The FEMA risk score in Forward Township is 62 of 100. Since 1978, 160 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Forward Township.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Against the 10,232 U.S. towns with household incomes like Forward Township’s, it is healthier than 68%, so its B− isn’t only a matter of income.
Forward Township beats the Pennsylvania average on 2 of 26 CDC measures and trails it on 6. 15% of Forward Township adults report frequent mental distress.
| Forward Township | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 16% | 17% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 14% | 14% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 11% | 12% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 16% | 14% |
| What stands out | Forward Township | PA |
|---|---|---|
| More adults treating high blood pressure | 82.3% | 79.2% |
| More adults getting cholesterol checked | 87.4% | 85.3% |
| More adults with COPD | 9.5% | 7.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
8 within 15 miles of the center of Forward Township
About 2 of every 100 Forward Township residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Pennsylvania.
Township in Pennsylvania, US
Forward Township is a township in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 3,068 at the 2020 census. The township is named after Walter Forward, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury from 1841 to 1843.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
9 towns share a border with Forward Township.
Monongahela next door grades lower for schools (C to Forward Township’s A) and higher for cost of living (A+ to B+).
| Town | PA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forward Township | #433 | B+ | B+ | — | A | B− |
| Elizabeth Township | #186 | A | B | A− | A | B |
| Elizabeth | — | — | A | — | A | D |
| Union Township | #753 | C+ | B | — | C | B |
| Bunola | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Monongahela | #586 | B | A+ | B+ | C | C+ |
| Carroll Township | #367 | A− | A | A+ | C | B− |
| Jefferson Hills | #200 | A | C− | A− | A | A |
Elizabeth has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Forward Township, Elizabeth and Union Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Bunola isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Forward Township with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Forward Township grades B+ overall, better than 72% of U.S. towns and #433 of 1032 in Pennsylvania. It grades B− for health and A for schools. Walkability is its weak spot, with a D.
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 B+.
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