Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 5,116, settled in 1783. Public schools that outperform most of Pennsylvania.
Trash day: FridayFor most people who can afford it, yes. New Freedom grades A− overall, 374th among Pennsylvania's 1032 graded towns. The median household earns $120K. Its schools rank ahead of 85% of Pennsylvania towns. The catch is cost: the typical home is worth about $427K, 5 years of the York metro’s $85K median household income. New Freedom’s average trip to work is 34 minutes, against 26 minutes in Pennsylvania’s towns and 25 minutes across U.S. towns.
Where New Freedom beats most towns.
Where New Freedom’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 New Freedom is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 324 in 1880, 4,877 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 2007 and a map from 1900 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in New Freedom, 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 New Freedom.
New Freedom sends many workers across the state line to Baltimore, has less tooth loss than most of Pennsylvania and pairs an A for schools with high home prices.
The median rent in New Freedom is $1,640 a month. The typical New Freedom home is worth about $427,000, up 4% in a year, 49% above the Pennsylvania typical home. 91% of New Freedom households own their home.
| New Freedom | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 91% | 78% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,640 a month | $1,114 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Its A for schools comes with a C− for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $427K.
Its one school is below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| St. John the Baptist School PrivateLargest elementary schoolGrades PK–6 | Grades PK–6 | 167 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within PA on state tests and graduation
1.0 miles of trail in 8 parks and preserves.
| New Freedom | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 6.3% | 8.2% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.5 miles per square mile | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Arlington Ernst Nature Park | 0.6 mi | 19 |
| 2. Heritage Rail Trail County Park | — | 19 |
| 3. Summers Glen HOA | — | 14 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
34% of working residents cross a state line to work, Baltimore among the top destinations. The average commute for its 2,040 working residents takes 33.7 minutes, against 26.3 across Pennsylvania.
Most working residents leave New Freedom for work: only 3% work in town. 3.9% of residents live below the poverty line in New Freedom. Jobs based in New Freedom grew to 648 in 2023, 83 more than in 2013.
| New Freedom | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $120,000 | $81,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 3.9% | 7.6% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 2.9% | 6.3% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Its widest gap with Pennsylvania is tooth loss: 6.2% of those 65+ have lost all their teeth, against 14.5% statewide. Against the 5,744 U.S. towns with household incomes like New Freedom’s, it is less healthy than 58%: its national edge comes with its incomes.
New Freedom beats the Pennsylvania average on 5 of 26 CDC measures and trails it on 1.
| New Freedom | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 24% | 25% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 19% | 19% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 14% | 14% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 5.3% | 7% | 8.1% |
| What stands out | New Freedom | PA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 6.2% | 14.5% |
| Fewer adults in fair or poor health | 15.9% | 18.7% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 9.9% | 8.8% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 70% of U.S. communities. Since 1979, 3 flood insurance claims have been paid out in New Freedom.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
New Freedom has chilly winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 84°, January nights drop to 21° and about 29 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The median household earns $120,037, against $77,971 across Pennsylvania, one input to its A for jobs and income.
Adults 18 to 34 are 14% of residents (22% statewide); adults 35 to 64 are 43% of residents (38% statewide). New Freedom has grown 4.9% since 2020, to 5,116 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. New Freedom’s median age is 45.3 years.
| New Freedom | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 44% | 29% | 29% |
| Median age | 45.3 years | 43.2 years | 40.5 years |
| Aged 65 or older | 21% | 21% | 18% |
51% women, 49% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±2.9 points. Across Pennsylvania, 50.7% of residents are women. Among residents 18 to 24, 100% are men (PA 51%).
| New Freedom | PA | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 11.4% | 10.8% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 10.1% | 9.7% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 7.9% | 9% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 6.3% | 13% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 14% | 12.6% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 18.4% | 11.9% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 11% | 13.6% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 15.1% | 11.4% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 5.8% | 8.1% | 7% |
| No diploma | 4.1% | 7.9% | 10.4% |
| High school | 18% | 32.9% | 26% |
| Some college | 20.6% | 15.1% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 13.6% | 8.9% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 30.6% | 20.9% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 13.1% | 14.3% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around New Freedom. Close and well known come first.
Big draw38 mi LandmarkRaven Rock Mountain Complex
Big draw32 mi Stadium & arenaM&T Bank Stadium
31 mi Stadium & arenaOriole Park at Camden Yards
38 mi Theme parkHersheypark3.0M visitors a year
34 mi MuseumNS Savannah
33 mi National MonumentFort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine283K visitors a yearRaven Rock Mountain Complex: US Government, Public domain · M&T Bank Stadium: United States Department of Defense Cherie Cullen, Public domain · Oriole Park at Camden Yards: Keith Allison, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Hersheypark: Michael Gray, CC BY-SA 2.0 · NS Savannah: Elton Lord/Atomic Energy Commission, Public domain · Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine: ScottyBoy900Q at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0
1 within 15 miles of the center of New Freedom
About 4 of every 100 New Freedom residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Pennsylvania.
3 notable people were born in New Freedom.
Borough in Pennsylvania, US
New Freedom is a borough in York County, Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, the borough had a population of 4,874. Once an industrial/railroad town, the community has evolved into a predominantly residential community.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
2 towns share a border with New Freedom.
| Town | PA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Freedom | #374 | A− | C− | — | A | B+ |
| Shrewsbury Township | #482 | B+ | C− | — | A | B+ |
| Railroad | — | — | — | — | — | — |
New Freedom and Shrewsbury Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Railroad isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare New Freedom with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
For most people who can afford it, yes. New Freedom grades A− overall, better than 77% of U.S. towns and #374 of 1032 in Pennsylvania. It grades B+ for health and A for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a C−.
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−.
3 notable people were born here, including Ron Wolf and Stew Bowers.
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