Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Middletown is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades C+ overall, 819th of 1032 graded towns in Pennsylvania, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is incomes: the median household earns $56K. Its lowest everyday mark is in schools: its public schools trail 68% of Pennsylvania towns on state tests and graduation. A typical home there costs about $264K, 3.3 years of the Harrisburg metro’s $81K median household income. History is its standout character grade: an A+, better than 95% of U.S. towns, with 5 places on the National Register. Middletown is more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns. Only 159 of Pennsylvania’s 1,751 towns score lower on hazard risk. Middletown is home to Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Harrisburg.
Where Middletown beats most towns.
Census counts: 567 in 1820, a low of 302 in 1830, 9,533 in 2020. The archive holds 5 old photos and papers going back to 1930 and 6 maps from 1908 on.
5 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Pennsylvania), ordered by how far Middletown is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Middletown. Close and well known come first.
7 mi Theme parkHersheypark3.0M visitors a year
23 mi National MonumentCarlisle Federal Indian Boarding School National Monument
7 mi Stadium & arenaHersheypark Stadium
7 mi MuseumHershey's Chocolate World
7 mi Stadium & arenaHersheypark Arena
38 mi Ancient siteGettysburg BattlefieldHersheypark: Michael Gray, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Carlisle Federal Indian Boarding School National Monument: Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain · Hersheypark Stadium: 45BearsFan, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Hershey's Chocolate World: Phillyfan0419, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Hersheypark Arena: Hersheyarena4ever at English Wikipedia, Public domain · Gettysburg Battlefield: Veggies, Public domain
Who provides power, water and the rest in Middletown, 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 Middletown.
Middletown is healthier than towns with similar incomes, but it carries more natural-hazard risk than most of Pennsylvania (mostly inland flooding) and reports violent crime at about twice the Pennsylvania rate.
Between 2013 and 2023, jobs in Middletown rose by 103, to 1,985. Most working residents leave Middletown for work: only 4% work in town. Also worth knowing: in Middletown, the average trip to work is 22 minutes, below both Pennsylvania’s towns (26 minutes) and U.S. towns (25 minutes). 12% of residents live below the poverty line here.
| Middletown | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $56,000 | $81,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 22 minutes | 26 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Work from home | 7.7% | 12% | 11% |
| Below the poverty line | 12% | 7.6% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Middletown Area SD runs its public schools. One of its 2 schools is below, with the reason it’s listed. 257 students attend the town’s public school.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fink El SchLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–5 | Grades K–5 | 257 | C |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within PA on state tests and graduation
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 94% of Pennsylvania towns, with expected losses of about $389 per resident a year; that rating is what its C− for hazard risk is built on. 340 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 56 properties have flooded more than once.
For Middletown, the risk rating from FEMA is 75 of 100. 340 flood insurance claims have been paid locally since 1978. Of the losses FEMA expects locally, 82% come from inland flooding. Federal aid has come to Middletown households in 3 declared disasters; the latest was in 2011.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Winters in Middletown are chilly and summers warm. Summer afternoons peak near 86° in July, and January nights bottom out around 23°; snowfall runs to about 30 inches a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Against the 7,665 U.S. towns with household incomes like Middletown’s, it is healthier than 73%, so its C+ isn’t only a matter of income.
Middletown: a third of adults have high blood pressure, where Pennsylvania’s towns sit at 34% and U.S. towns at 35%. Of 26 CDC measures, Middletown beats the Pennsylvania average on 1 and trails it on 5. 41% of Middletown adults sleep under 7 hours.
| Middletown | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 41% | 38% | 36% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 16% | 17% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 25% | 24% | 23% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 16% | 14% |
| What stands out | Middletown | PA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 7.9% | 8.8% |
| More uninsured adults | 9.1% | 5.8% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Home values rose 40% in five years, to about $264K, against 23% across Pennsylvania.
Homes in Middletown are typically worth about $264,000, up 4.6% in a year, 8% below the Pennsylvania typical home. In Middletown, three in five sales closed above the list price. Its going rate for rent stands at $1,234 a month.
| Middletown | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 43% | 78% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,234 a month | $1,114 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Count the trails in 4 parks and preserves and they come to 0.9 miles. In Middletown, the trail network density is 0.4 miles per square mile.
| Middletown | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 5.5% | 8.2% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.4 miles per square mile | 0.5 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Hoffer Park | — | 10 |
| 2. Susquehanna Street Park | — | 5 |
| 3. Oak Hills Park | — | 4 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Violent crime runs at 4.7 per 1,000 residents, about twice the Pennsylvania rate; the Safety Grade counts each violent crime four times, so this weighs most on its B−. At 18.8 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports more crime than 73% of Pennsylvania’s graded towns.
Middletown’s violent offense rate comes in at 4.7 per 1,000 residents. The rate of thefts and burglaries for Middletown comes to 3.6 per 1,000 residents.
| Middletown | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 4.7 per 1,000 residents | 0.7 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 3.6 per 1,000 residents | 5.7 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
7 within 15 miles of the center of Middletown
About 9 of every 100 Middletown residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Pennsylvania.
5 places in Middletown on the National Register of Historic Places.
10 notable people were born in Middletown.
Borough in Pennsylvania, US
Middletown is a borough in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, on the Susquehanna River, 10 miles (16 km) southeast of Harrisburg. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 9,550. It is part of the Harrisburg–Carlisle Metropolitan Statistical Area.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
3 towns share a border with Middletown.
| Town | PA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Middletown | #819 | C+ | B− | B− | C | C+ |
| Lower Swatara Township | #409 | B+ | B− | A− | C | B |
| Londonderry Township | #191 | A | B | — | B+ | B+ |
| Royalton | — | — | B+ | — | C | B− |
Royalton has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Londonderry Township and Royalton report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Middletown with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Middletown grades C+ overall, better than 37% of U.S. towns and #819 of 1032 in Pennsylvania. It grades C+ for health, B− for safety and C for schools. Hazard risk is its weak spot, with a C−.
Pennsylvania has less crime than most states, so among its own towns Middletown 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−.
10 notable people were born here, including Bruce Manning Metzger and J. Donald Cameron.
