Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Mount Penn is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades B+ overall, ranked 514th of 1032 in Pennsylvania, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is health: residents are healthier than 66% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. It also does better than most on incomes: the median household earns $64K. Its lowest everyday mark is in schools: its public schools trail 76% of Pennsylvania towns on state tests and graduation. A typical home there costs about $176K, 2.2 years of the Reading metro’s $80K median household income. Mount Penn is more walkable than 91% of U.S. towns. Mount Penn’s average trip to work is 21 minutes, below both Pennsylvania’s towns (26 minutes) and U.S. towns (25 minutes). Mount Penn's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) trails 83% of U.S. towns.
Where Mount Penn beats most towns.
Where Mount Penn’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 Penn is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 785 in 1910, 3,240 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1880 and 8 maps from 1894 on.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Mount Penn. Close and well known come first.
26 mi Theme parkDorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom
34 mi GardenLongwood Gardens2 mi Stadium & arenaSovereign Center
39 mi MuseumWinterthur Museum, Garden and Library
27 mi Theme parkDutch Wonderland
27 mi National Historical ParkValley Forge National Historical Park1.8M visitors a yearDorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom: Coasterman1234 at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Longwood Gardens: P. Hughes, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library: Photo by and (c)2007 Derek Ramsey (Ram-Man), CC BY-SA 2.5 · Dutch Wonderland: FlugKerl2, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Valley Forge National Historical Park: The original uploader was JGHowes at English Wikipedia. (Original text: en:User, Attribution
Who provides power, water and the rest in Mount Penn, 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 Penn.
Mount Penn is healthier than towns with similar incomes and has homes that are cheap against local pay.
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 89% of U.S. communities. Since 1978, 2 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Mount Penn.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Its public schools are run by Antietam SD. Two of its 3 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Antietam HS, with 360 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kerry C. Hoffman Intermediate SchLargest public middle schoolGrades 4–8 | Grades 4–8 | 434 | C− |
| Antietam HSLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 360 | C− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within PA on state tests and graduation
Most working residents leave Mount Penn for work: only 2% work in town. 15% of residents live below the poverty line in Mount Penn. The top destinations are Reading (15%), Wyomissing (6%) and Exeter Township (5%).
| Mount Penn | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 15% | 7.6% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $64,000 | $81,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 2.2% | 6.3% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Mount Penn has chilly winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 86°, January nights drop to 22° and about 27 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Against the 9,653 U.S. towns with household incomes like Mount Penn’s, it is healthier than 88%, so its B+ isn’t only a matter of income.
42% of Mount Penn adults sleep under 7 hours. Mount Penn beats the Pennsylvania average on 4 of 26 CDC measures and trails it on 2. 20% of Mount Penn adults binge drink.
| Mount Penn | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 42% | 38% | 36% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 18% | 16% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 34% | 35% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 11% | 6.9% | 8.1% |
| What stands out | Mount Penn | PA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had a stroke | 3.1% | 3.7% |
| Fewer adults with COPD | 6.5% | 7.7% |
| More uninsured adults | 10.9% | 5.8% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
| Mount Penn | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 0.8% | 8.2% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.8 miles per square mile | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Neversink Mountain Preserve | — | 1 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
At 2.2 years of the Reading metro’s $80K median household income, the typical home costs less against local pay than in 87% of Pennsylvania towns; that ratio is one input to its B for cost of living.
Mount Penn’s median rent is $953 a month.
| Mount Penn | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 65% | 78% | 73% |
| Median rent | $953 a month | $1,116 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
5 within 15 miles of the center of Mount Penn
About 2 of every 100 Mount Penn residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Pennsylvania.
Borough in Pennsylvania, US
Mount Penn is a borough in Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 3,240 at the 2020 census. The borough shares a name with a 1,120-foot-high (340 m) mountain that rises to the north and overlooks the city of Reading. The peak is sometimes recognized as the southern end of the Reading Prong group of mountains. It was the site of the Mt. Penn Hessian Camp.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Mount Penn.
It grades higher overall than all 3 graded towns on its borders; Exeter Township (B) comes closest. Exeter Township next door grades higher for schools (A− to Mount Penn’s C−) and lower for cost of living (C− to B).
| Town | PA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount Penn | #514 | B+ | B | — | C− | B+ |
| Lower Alsace Township | #677 | B− | C+ | — | C− | B+ |
| Pennside | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| St. Lawrence | — | — | B− | — | A− | A− |
| Reading | #1010 | D | B | C | D− | D− |
| Exeter Township | #591 | B | C− | B | A− | B+ |
St. Lawrence has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Mount Penn, Lower Alsace Township and St. Lawrence report no FBI crime data of their own. Pennside isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Mount Penn with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Mount Penn grades B+ overall, better than 65% of U.S. towns and #514 of 1032 in Pennsylvania. It grades B+ for health and C− for schools. Schools is its weak spot, with a C−.
The typical home is worth about $176,000, 39% 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.
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