Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 3,222, settled in 1874.
Mount Oliver grades D overall, 991st among Pennsylvania's 1032 graded towns, mostly because of health and safety. Residents are less healthy than 97% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. Its police reported 30 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2024, a higher rate per resident than 94% of U.S. towns. One bright spot: it is among the most walkable places in the country. Mount Oliver’s violent crime rate is 9.3 per 1,000 residents, against 0.8 in Pennsylvania’s towns and 1.7 across U.S. towns. Only 75 of Pennsylvania’s 1,751 towns score higher on hazard risk. Mount Oliver's public schools trail 73% of Pennsylvania towns on state tests and graduation.
Where Mount Oliver beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
| Widest gap | Mount Oliver | PA |
|---|---|---|
| More uninsured adults | 12.3% | 5.8% |
Where Mount Oliver’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 Mount Oliver is from typical.
Its grades run from A+ for walkability (better than 99% of comparable towns) to D− for health (better than 3%), so the D overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 1,883 in 1880, a peak of 7,071 in 1930, 3,394 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1966 and 4 maps from 1904 on.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Mount Oliver. Close and well known come first.
Big draw3 mi Stadium & arenaAcrisure Stadium
3 mi LandmarkFort Duquesne
3 mi Stadium & arenaPNC Park
2 mi Stadium & arenaPPG Paints Arena
7 mi Theme parkKennywood
2 mi LandmarkFort PittAcrisure 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
Who provides power, water and the rest in Mount Oliver, 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 Mount Oliver.
Mount Oliver has homes that are cheap against local pay and is mostly renters, but it reports violent crime at 4 times the Pennsylvania rate.
32% of Mount Oliver adults say their health is fair or poor. Among 1,035 Pennsylvania towns, just 5 have a higher share of adults who report frequent physical distress than Mount Oliver. 22% of Mount Oliver adults report frequent mental distress.
| Mount Oliver | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 32% | 19% | 19% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 16% | 14% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 14% | 14% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 22% | 16% | 17% |
| What stands out | Mount Oliver | PA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 6.4% | 8.8% |
| More uninsured adults | 12.3% | 5.8% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Violent crime runs at 9.3 per 1,000 residents, 4 times the Pennsylvania rate; the Safety Grade counts each violent crime four times, so this weighs most on its D. Property crime runs at 31 per 1,000 residents, about twice the Pennsylvania rate, most of it theft.
Mount Oliver’s property crime rate is 31 per 1,000 residents. Mount Oliver reports more crime per resident than most U.S. towns we grade: about 94% report less.
FBI crime data, 2024 · crimes reported to police
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 96% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Most working residents leave Mount Oliver for work: only 1% work in town. 15% of residents live below the poverty line in Mount Oliver. Jobs based in Mount Oliver grew to 446 in 2023, 176 more than in 2013.
| Mount Oliver | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 15% | 7.6% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $52,000 | $81,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 1.2% | 6.3% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 24 minutes | 26 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Mount Oliver has chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 84°, January nights drop to 22° and about 44 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Transverse Field | — | 11 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
At 1.3 years of the Pittsburgh metro’s $76K median household income, the typical home costs less against local pay than in 97% of Pennsylvania towns; that ratio is one input to its B for cost of living. 61.1% of renter households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, against 48.2% across Pennsylvania.
The median rent in Mount Oliver is $1,302 a month.
| Mount Oliver | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 41% | 78% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,302 a month | $1,114 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
15 within 15 miles of the center of Mount Oliver
About 5 of every 100 Mount Oliver residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Pennsylvania.
Borough in Pennsylvania, US
Mount Oliver is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 3,394 at the 2020 census. It is a largely residential area situated atop a crest about 3 miles (5 km) west of the Monongahela River. The borough is surrounded entirely by the city of Pittsburgh, having resisted annexation attempts by the city.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Mount Oliver grades D overall, better than 13% of U.S. towns and #991 of 1032 in Pennsylvania. It grades D− for health, D for safety and C for schools. Health is its weak spot, with a D−.
The typical home is worth about $97,000, 66% below the Pennsylvania typical home. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B.
.jpg){kind=link}
