Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Taken together, its subjects give New Kensington a C− overall, better than 18% of U.S. towns. In the ranking it comes 970th of 1032 in Pennsylvania. Safety is its weak spot: its crime rate is higher than 83% of U.S. towns, with 45 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025. It does especially well on cost of living: a typical home costs about $177K, 2.3 years of the Pittsburgh metro’s $76K median household income. Walkability is a strength too (A): it is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 88% of U.S. towns. The town has 4 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them New Kensington Production Works Historic District and Mount St. Peter Roman Catholic Church. Its level of property crime is 25.4 per 1,000 residents, above both Pennsylvania’s towns (5.7) and U.S. towns (9.9). Only 148 of Pennsylvania’s 1,749 towns score lower on health.
Figures: home values, Zillow · incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · FBI crime data, 2025 · health, CDC PLACES · National Register of Historic Places.
Where New Kensington beats most towns.
Mount St. Peter Roman Catholic ChurchWhere New Kensington’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 Kensington is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 4,665 in 1900, a peak of 25,146 in 1950, 12,170 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1896 and 6 maps from 1908 on.
4 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around New Kensington. Close and well known come first.
Big draw16 mi Stadium & arenaAcrisure Stadium
14 mi Theme parkKennywood
16 mi LandmarkFort Duquesne
16 mi Stadium & arenaPNC Park
15 mi Stadium & arenaPPG Paints Arena
16 mi LandmarkFort PittAcrisure Stadium: Fo2grfr, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Kennywood: Ski2007 of English Wikipedia, Public domain · 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 · 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 New Kensington, 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 Kensington.
New Kensington is healthier than towns with similar incomes and has homes that are cheap against local pay, but it has lost a quarter or more of its jobs in ten years.
New Kensington’s violent crime rate is 3.8 per 1,000 residents.
| New Kensington | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 25.4 per 1,000 residents | 5.7 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 3.8 per 1,000 residents | 0.7 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Public schools: New Kensington-Arnold SD. The largest public high school is Valley JSHS, with 905 students. Also worth knowing: the 3 public schools in New Kensington teach 1,059 students between them.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Martin SchLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–K | Grades PK–K | 147 | – |
| Valley JSHSLargest public high schoolGrades 7–12 | Grades 7–12 | 905 | C− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within PA on state tests and graduation
Against the 5,430 U.S. towns with household incomes like New Kensington’s, it is less healthy than 53%, so its C− isn’t only a matter of income.
Nearly a quarter of New Kensington adults say their health is fair or poor. Of 26 CDC measures, New Kensington beats the Pennsylvania average on 1 and trails it on 13. Among adults locally, 42% sleep under 7 hours and 17% report frequent physical distress.
| New Kensington | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 16% | 14% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 42% | 38% | 36% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 14% | 14% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 11% | 12% |
| What stands out | New Kensington | PA |
|---|---|---|
| More adults treating high blood pressure | 83.1% | 79.2% |
| More adults with COPD | 11.2% | 7.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
At 2.3 years of the Pittsburgh metro’s $76K median household income, the typical home (about $177K) costs less against local pay than in 86% of Pennsylvania towns; that ratio is one input to that grade.
On the market in New Kensington: a median 48 days to sell. A typical home here is worth about $177,000, about the same as a year ago, 38% below the Pennsylvania typical home. Nearly three in five households are owner-occupiers locally.
| New Kensington | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 59% | 78% | 73% |
| Median rent | $751 a month | $1,116 a month | $1,185 a month |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Jobs based here fell from 4,106 in 2013 to 3,247.
Half the trips to work are shorter than 12 miles. New Kensington’s median household income stands at $49,000. Only 7% of working residents stay in New Kensington for work; the rest commute out. Between 2013 and 2023, jobs in New Kensington dropped by 859, to 3,247.
| New Kensington | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 16% | 7.6% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $49,000 | $81,000 | $80,000 |
| Work from home | 17% | 12% | 11% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
In July, afternoons reach 85°; in January, nights fall to 21°, and about 25 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Trails run 0.4 miles in 5 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Memorial Park, at 56 acres. New Kensington’s concentration of trails comes in at 0.1 miles per square mile.
| New Kensington | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 1.6% | 8.2% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 0.5 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Memorial Park | — | 56 |
| 2. MASSA HARBISON PARK | — | 7 |
| 3. A-K Valley Park LLC | — | 6 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Households in New Kensington have drawn federal disaster aid once, in 2004. Expected damage from storms and floods is higher here than in 50% of U.S. communities. FEMA puts 91% of the town’s expected hazard losses down to inland flooding. The town has had 37 paid flood insurance claims since 1979.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
8 within 15 miles of the center of New Kensington
About 2 of every 100 New Kensington residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Pennsylvania.
4 places in New Kensington on the National Register of Historic Places.
19 notable people were born in New Kensington.
City in Pennsylvania, US
New Kensington (known locally as New Ken) is a city in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 12,170 at the 2020 census. It is situated along the Allegheny River 18 miles (29 km) northeast of Pittsburgh and is part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with New Kensington.
| Town | PA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Kensington | #970 | C− | A− | C− | C− | C− |
| Lower Burrell | #57 | A+ | A− | A | B+ | B+ |
| Arnold | #1006 | D | A | D | C− | D |
| East Deer Township | — | — | A+ | — | A− | B− |
| Tarentum | #778 | C+ | A | B | C | C− |
| Springdale Township | — | — | A− | — | C+ | B |
East Deer Township and Springdale Township have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. East Deer Township and Springdale Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare New Kensington with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
New Kensington grades C− overall, better than 18% of U.S. towns and #970 of 1032 in Pennsylvania. It grades C− for health, C− for safety and C− for schools. Safety is its weak spot, with a C−.
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades A−.
19 notable people were born here, including Stephanie L. Kwolek and Eddie Adams.
.jpg){kind=link}
