Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 11,781. A regional job hub with 9,638 jobs.
Hanover Township is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades C− overall, 936th of 1032 graded towns in Pennsylvania, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is cost of living: homes are within reach, about $152K for a typical one, or 2.3 years of the Scranton metro’s $65K median household income. Its lowest everyday mark is in schools: its schools rank behind 82% of the state's. 36% of the land in Hanover Township is conserved, where Pennsylvania’s towns sit at 8.2% and U.S. towns at 4.3%. Only 36 of Pennsylvania’s 1,717 towns score lower on civic life. Pinchot State Forest, at 2,165 acres with 5.7 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve.
Where Hanover Township beats most towns.
Where Hanover 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 Hanover Township is from typical.
Its best grade is an A for the outdoors (30 miles of trails; 36% conserved land), which describes the town but isn’t part of the overall grade; its C− comes from the livability subjects above.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 946 in 1820, 16,429 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1863 and 6 maps from 1891 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Explore the history →Who provides power, water and the rest in Hanover 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 Hanover Township.
Hanover Township draws workers from Wilkes-Barre and beyond, keeps more of its land conserved than most of Pennsylvania and is safe by national standards but not by Pennsylvania’s.
Its 4,413 conserved acres are a larger share of the town than in 94% of Pennsylvania towns.
30 miles of trail in 5 parks and preserves. Hanover Township’s concentration of trails comes in at 1.6 miles per square mile.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. State Game Lands Number 207 | 11.2 mi | 1,181 |
| 2. Pinchot State Forest | 5.7 mi | 2,165 |
| 3. Hanover Recreation Club Park | — | 10 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
The largest public high school is Hanover Area JSHS, with 977 students. The public schools here belong to Hanover Area SD. Two of its 5 schools are below, each with the reason it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lee Park El SchLargest public elementary schoolGrades 3–4 | Grades 3–4 | 322 | C− |
| Hanover Area JSHSLargest public high schoolGrades 7–12 | Grades 7–12 | 977 | C− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within PA on state tests and graduation
9,638 jobs are based in Hanover Township, 2.1 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in. The average commute takes 19 minutes, against 26.3 across Pennsylvania.
The top destinations are Wilkes-Barre (17%), Plains Township (7%) and Wilkes-Barre Township (3%). Just 15% of Hanover Township’s working residents have a job in town. For residents here, the share who live below the poverty line is 19%. The town’s typical household income is $61,000, against $81,000 in Pennsylvania’s towns and $80,000 across U.S. towns.
| Hanover Township | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 19% | 7.6% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 19 minutes | 26 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 15% | 6.3% | 8% |
| Median household income | $61,000 | $81,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Among adults in Hanover Township, 16% report frequent physical distress and 40% have obesity. A fifth of Hanover Township adults smoke cigarettes.
| Hanover Township | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 16% | 14% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 14% | 14% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 40% | 35% | 35% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 24% | 25% |
| What stands out | Hanover Township | PA |
|---|---|---|
| More uninsured adults | 8.5% | 5.8% |
| More adults with COPD | 9.9% | 7.7% |
| More smokers | 19.5% | 15.8% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Expect July afternoons of 82° and January nights of 18°, with about 36 inches of snow a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Since 1978, 90 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Hanover Township. Compared with 60% of U.S. communities, expected storm and flood damage in the town is lower. FEMA puts just over three quarters of the town’s expected hazard losses down to inland flooding, and 9% to cold waves.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
At 18.8 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports more crime than 73% of Pennsylvania’s graded towns.
Hanover Township’s level of violent crime stands at 2.4 per 1,000 residents. Its property crime rate comes in at 8.2 per 1,000 residents.
| Hanover Township | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 2.4 per 1,000 residents | 0.7 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 8.2 per 1,000 residents | 5.7 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Hanover Township. Close and well known come first.
20 mi National Historic SiteSteamtown National Historic Site61K visitors a year
39 mi LakeLake Wallenpaupack
19 mi State parkRicketts Glen State Park
18 mi State parkHickory Run State Park
32 mi Ski areaCamelback Mountain Resort37 runs · 804 ft verticalSteamtown National Historic Site: National Park Service, Public domain · Lake Wallenpaupack: Doug Kerr from Albany, NY, United States, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Ricketts Glen State Park: en:User:Msitler, Public domain · Hickory Run State Park: Mtruch, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Camelback Mountain Resort: Calzarette at en.wikipedia, Public domain
5 within 15 miles of the center of Hanover Township
About 3 of every 100 Hanover Township residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Pennsylvania.
9 towns share a border with Hanover Township.
| Town | PA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hanover Township | #936 | C− | B− | B− | C− | C− |
| Plymouth Township | — | — | A− | — | C− | C |
| Plymouth | #1025 | D | B | D | C | D |
| Nanticoke | #931 | C− | A− | C+ | C− | D |
| Larksville | #993 | D | C+ | — | C | B− |
| Fairview Township | #95 | A+ | C+ | A+ | A− | A− |
| Nuangola | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Wilkes-Barre | #1019 | D | B− | C− | D | D |
Plymouth Township has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Plymouth Township and Larksville report no FBI crime data of their own. Nuangola isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Hanover Township with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Hanover Township grades C− overall, better than 23% of U.S. towns and #936 of 1032 in Pennsylvania. It grades C− for health, B− for safety and C− for schools. Schools is its weak spot, with a C−.
Pennsylvania has less crime than most states, so among its own towns Hanover Township sits nearer the middle.
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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