Is McCandless Township a good place to live?
Plenty to like here, at a price. Where it does best is hazard risk (A+). McCandless Township grades A+ overall and ranks 20th of 1032 in Pennsylvania. On that grade it does better than almost every U.S. town. It is strong on schools as well: its schools rank ahead of 98% of Pennsylvania towns. The trade-off is cost of living (C−): the typical home is worth about $350K, 4.6 years of the Pittsburgh metro’s $76K median household income. 62% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in the town, above both Pennsylvania’s towns (29%) and U.S. towns (29%). This Pennsylvania town is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 87% of U.S. towns.
Figures: FEMA National Risk Index · schools, state test and graduation results · home values, Zillow · incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24.
What makes McCandless Township stand out
Where McCandless Township beats most towns.
La Roche University calls McCandless Township home
How McCandless Township grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Pennsylvania), ordered by how far McCandless Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Acrisure Stadium and 56 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around McCandless Township. Close and well known come first.
Big draw9 mi Stadium & arenaAcrisure Stadium
10 mi LandmarkFort Duquesne
9 mi Stadium & arenaPNC Park
10 mi Stadium & arenaPPG Paints Arena
16 mi Theme parkKennywood
10 mi LandmarkFort PittPhoto credits
Acrisure Stadium: Fo2grfr, CC BY-SA 4.0 · 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 · Kennywood: Ski2007 of English Wikipedia, Public domain · Fort Pitt: Downtown_Pittsburgh_May_2008.jpg: Allie Caufield derivative work: GrapedApe (tal, CC BY 2.0
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Moving to McCandless Township: who provides what
Who provides power, water and the rest in McCandless 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 McCandless Township.
McCandless Township has schools in the top 5% of Pennsylvania, trades workers with Pittsburgh and other neighbors and has less tooth loss than most of Pennsylvania.
Conservation land takes up 15.7% of McCandless Township
The biggest place to walk is North Park, 1,780 acres with 25.2 miles of trail. Across 5 parks and preserves: 32 miles of trail. In McCandless Township, the trail density is 2.0 miles per square mile.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. North Park | 25.2 mi | 1,780 |
| 2. Potter Park | 0.4 mi | 9 |
| 3. Devlin Park | — | 8 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
For schools, McCandless Township earns an A+
That grade ranks #12 of the 1,037 Pennsylvania towns we grade for schools.
The public schools here belong to North Allegheny SD. Three of its 8 schools are shown below, with the reason for each. 5 public schools serve McCandless Township, with 2,619 students in all.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| McKnight El SchLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–5 | Grades K–5 | 875 | A |
| North Allegheny HSLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 2,711 | A+ |
| Ingomar El SchTop results in townGrades K–5 | Grades K–5 | 344 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within PA on state tests and graduation
McCandless Township ranks healthier than 94% of the country’s towns
Its widest gap with Pennsylvania is tooth loss: 6.9% of those 65+ have lost all their teeth, against 14.5% statewide.
McCandless Township: 29% of adults have high blood pressure. On the CDC’s 26 measures, McCandless Township is ahead of Pennsylvania on 16 and behind on 1. Two figures for adults locally: 28% have obesity, 32% sleep under 7 hours.
| McCandless Township | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 16% | 17% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 35% | 35% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 32% | 38% | 36% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 18% | 16% |
| What stands out | McCandless Township | PA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 6.9% | 14.5% |
| Fewer smokers | 10.9% | 15.8% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 10% | 8.8% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
The FEMA risk score in McCandless Township is lower than in most of Pennsylvania or the rest of the country
FEMA puts 70% of McCandless Township’s expected hazard losses down to inland flooding, and 15% to cold waves. The national flood insurance program has paid 35 claims locally since 1979. Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 98% of U.S. communities.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
McCandless Township is safer than 76% of U.S. towns, by crime per resident
Violent crime is rare: 15 reported in 2025, 0.5 per 1,000 residents.
Pennsylvania has less reported crime than most states, so among its own towns McCandless Township sits closer to the middle. Its property offense rate stands at 6 per 1,000 residents.
| McCandless Township | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.5 per 1,000 residents | 0.7 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 6 per 1,000 residents | 5.7 | 9.9 |
Violent crime per 1,000 residents
Property crime per 1,000 residents
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Four seasons and pleasant summers: that is McCandless Township’s year
McCandless Township’s midsummer high comes in at 83°F.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
About one in three of McCandless Township’s working residents commute to Pittsburgh
McCandless Township has about as many jobs (14,337) as working residents, but only 1,337 people both live and work here. 26% of workers work from home, against 15.6% across Pennsylvania.
In McCandless Township, the median household income is $111,000. Most working residents leave McCandless Township for work: only 10% work in town. Since 2013, McCandless Township has added 2,052 jobs, to 14,337 in 2023. Among workers here, 26% work remotely from home.
| McCandless Township | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 26% | 12% | 11% |
| Median household income | $111,000 | $81,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 3.9% | 7.6% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 9.7% | 6.3% | 8% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Everything we know about McCandless Township
Colleges nearby
14 within 15 miles of the center of McCandless Township
About 6 of every 100 McCandless Township residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Pennsylvania.
32 miles of trails in McCandless Township
15.7% of the town is conserved land, across 5 parks and preserves.
About McCandless Township
Township in Pennsylvania, US
McCandless is a township with home rule status in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 29,709 at the 2020 census. It is a suburb in the North Hills of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. McCandless is part of the North Allegheny School District and participates in the multi-municipality Northland Public Library. Because of its home rule status, McCandless no longer operates under the First Class Township Code, but it is classified as a first-class township for certain purposes. Although the municipality goes by "Town of McCandless", apart from one exception, a "town" is not a municipal unit in Pennsylvania.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Established
- 1851
- Area
- 17 sq mi
- Elevation
- 1,024 ft
McCandless Township’s neighbors
4 towns share a border with McCandless Township.
At #20 in PA, it grades higher overall than all 4 graded towns on its borders; Hampton Township (A+) comes closest.
| Town | PA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| McCandless Township | #20 | A+ | C− | A− | A+ | A |
| Ross Township | #285 | A− | C | C | A | A |
| Hampton Township | #24 | A+ | C− | A | A+ | A |
| Franklin Park | #48 | A+ | C− | A+ | A+ | A+ |
| Pine Township | #140 | A | D | — | A+ | A+ |
Pine Township reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare McCandless Township with a neighbor →
Questions about McCandless Township
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is McCandless Township, PA a good place to live?
Yes, by almost any measure. McCandless Township grades A+ overall, among the top 2% of U.S. towns and #20 of 1032 in Pennsylvania. It grades A for health, A− for safety and A+ for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a C−.
Is McCandless Township, PA safe?
Yes, by national standards. Pennsylvania has less crime than most states, so among its own towns McCandless Township sits nearer the middle.
Is McCandless Township, PA expensive?
Yes. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C−.