Jay TownshipPA
A town of 1,884. 73% more nonprofits per person than the typical Pennsylvania town.
Is Jay Township a good place to live?
The best of Jay Township’s subject grades are an A+ for cost of living and civic life and an A for the outdoors; the weakest is a D for hazard risk. Only 10 of Pennsylvania’s 1,749 towns score higher on cost of living. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 72% of U.S. towns. On hazard risk, just 26 of Pennsylvania’s 1,751 towns do worse. 39% of the land in Jay Township is conserved, above both Pennsylvania’s towns (8.2%) and U.S. towns (4.3%). The biggest place to walk is Moshannon State Forest, 4,354 acres with 5.8 miles of trail. Only 7 of Pennsylvania’s 1,717 towns score higher on civic life. Jay Township has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
What makes Jay Township stand out
Where Jay Township beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Community nonprofits per 1,000 residents
93% of working residents leave Jay Township for work
Where Jay Township’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How Jay Township grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Pennsylvania), ordered by how far Jay Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Jay Township: who provides what
Who provides power, water and the rest in Jay 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.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Jay Township.
Jay Township has set aside nearly a third of its land for conservation
38 miles of trail in 6 parks and preserves.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Moshannon State Forest | 5.8 mi | 4,354 |
| 2. Hemlock Ave Park | 0.5 mi | 5 |
| 3. Elk State Forest | 0.4 mi | 3,068 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Compared with most of Pennsylvania and the rest of the country, the FEMA risk score in Jay Township is higher
Jay Township’s FEMA risk score is 87 of 100, above both the Pennsylvania town median (30 of 100) and the median of U.S. towns (44 of 100). Since 1989, 16 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Jay Township.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Jay Township has 0.1 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Most working residents leave Jay Township for work: only 7% work in town. Jobs based in Jay Township grew to 104 in 2023, 22 more than in 2013. The median household income in Jay Township is $67,000.
| Jay Township | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $67,000 | $81,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 23 minutes | 26 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 7.2% | 7.6% | 9.6% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Residents of Jay Township are less healthy than 75% of U.S. towns
Jay Township beats the Pennsylvania average on 0 of 26 CDC measures and trails it on 9. 20% of Jay Township adults smoke cigarettes.
| Jay Township | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 17% | 14% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 14% | 14% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 22% | 19% | 19% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 24% | 25% |
| What stands out | Jay Township | PA |
|---|---|---|
| More adults with COPD | 10.6% | 7.7% |
| More adults with heart disease | 9.8% | 7.4% |
| More smokers | 19.8% | 15.8% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Jay Township has snowy winters and pleasant summers
Jay Township has chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers. Jay Township’s July high is 81°F.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Everything we know about Jay Township
Colleges nearby
None within 15 miles of Jay Township; the nearest are
About 6 of every 100 Jay Township residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Pennsylvania.
About Jay Township
Township in Pennsylvania, United States
Jay Township is a township in Elk County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,961 at the 2020 census, down from 2,072 in 2010.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 68 sq mi
Jay Township’s neighbors
3 towns share a border with Jay Township.
| Town | PA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jay Township | — | — | A+ | — | B− | C |
| Fox Township | #485 | B+ | A | — | B− | B− |
| Benezette Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| St. Marys | #560 | B | A | B | B− | C+ |
Jay Township has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Jay Township and Fox Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Benezette Township isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Jay Township with a neighbor →
Questions about Jay Township
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Jay Township, PA a good place to live?
73% more nonprofits per person than the typical Pennsylvania town.
Is Jay Township, PA expensive?
Not for the area. The typical home is worth about $91,000. Marys, PA 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+.