Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Palmer Township grades B overall, ranked 578th of 1032 in Pennsylvania. The median household earns $116K. Residents are healthier than 84% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. The catch is cost: the typical home is worth about $319K, 3.8 years of the Allentown metro’s $85K median household income. Palmer Township’s going rate for rent is $1,769 a month, where Pennsylvania’s towns sit at $1,114 a month and U.S. towns at $1,185 a month. Only 124 of Pennsylvania’s 1,717 towns score lower on civic life. Palmer Township has 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Seipsville Hotel.
Where Palmer Township beats most towns.
| Widest gap | Palmer Township | PA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 7.9% | 14.5% |
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Pennsylvania), ordered by how far Palmer Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 1,465 in 1920, 22,317 in 2020. The archive holds 5 maps from 1894 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Explore the history →Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Palmer Township. Close and well known come first.
17 mi Theme parkDorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom
3 mi Park & preserveLehigh River
33 mi LakeLake Musconetcong
13 mi Stadium & arenaPPL Center
in town Theme parkBushkill Park
35 mi Park & preserveDuke FarmsDorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom: Coasterman1234 at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Lehigh River: The original uploader was Malepheasant at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 2.0 · Lake Musconetcong: Zeete, CC BY-SA 4.0 · PPL Center: Hunter Kahn, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Bushkill Park: Mr6507, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Duke Farms: Ekem, CC BY-SA 3.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Palmer Township, 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 Palmer Township.
Palmer Township trades workers with Bethlehem and other neighbors, has less tooth loss than most of Pennsylvania and has seen reported crime fall by a third or more.
Its widest gap with Pennsylvania is tooth loss: 7.9% of those 65+ have lost all their teeth, against 14.5% statewide. Against the 6,300 U.S. towns with household incomes like Palmer Township’s, it is healthier than 69%, a smaller edge than it has nationally: part of it comes with its incomes.
Just over a fifth of adults get no exercise outside work in Palmer Township. The town does better than the Pennsylvania average on 9 of 26 CDC measures and worse on 1. In Palmer Township, 12% of adults report frequent physical distress, and 20% have been diagnosed with depression.
| Palmer Township | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 16% | 17% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 14% | 14% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 24% | 23% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 18% | 16% |
| What stands out | Palmer Township | PA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 7.9% | 14.5% |
| Fewer smokers | 12.2% | 15.8% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 9.8% | 8.8% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Of its 4 schools, two are listed below, each with the reason. The largest public high school is Easton Area HS, with 2,778 students. Easton Area SD runs its public schools.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Palmer El SchLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–5 | Grades K–5 | 531 | C+ |
| Easton Area HSLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 2,778 | B− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within PA on state tests and graduation
July afternoons reach 85°, January nights drop to 20° and about 33 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The biggest park or preserve is Mill Race Park, at 33 acres. Trails total 2.4 miles in 19 parks and preserves. Palmer Township’s density of trails comes in at 0.2 miles per square mile.
| Palmer Township | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.2 miles per square mile | 0.5 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 5.8% | 8.2% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Old Orchard Park | 0.3 mi | 6 |
| 2. Mill Race Park | — | 33 |
| 3. Riverview Park | — | 22 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Reported crimes fell from 322 to 213 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings. Violent crime is rare: 3 reported in 2025, 0.1 per 1,000 residents.
The level of violent crime for Palmer Township comes to 0.1 per 1,000 residents. Pennsylvania has less reported crime than most states, so among its own towns Palmer Township sits closer to the middle.
| Palmer Township | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.1 per 1,000 residents | 0.7 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 9.3 per 1,000 residents | 5.7 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Palmer Township has about as many jobs (9,498) as working residents, but only 774 people both live and work here.
The top destinations are Bethlehem (7%), Allentown (6%) and Easton (5%). Just 8% of Palmer Township’s working residents have a job in town. Between 2013 and 2023, jobs in the town rose by 2,072, to 9,498. The share of residents in Palmer Township who live below the poverty line: 4.5%.
| Palmer Township | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $116,000 | $81,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 4.5% | 7.6% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 28 minutes | 26 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Work from home | 15% | 12% | 11% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
18% of Palmer Township residents are under 18. People 65 and older are 24% of residents (20% statewide). The town’s midpoint age is 47.3 years. Four-year graduates: just over two in five adults 25 and older here, 35% across Pennsylvania.
| Palmer Township | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 42% | 29% | 29% |
| Median age | 47.3 years | 43.2 years | 40.5 years |
| Aged 65 or older | 24% | 21% | 18% |
| Under 18 | 18% | 20% | 22% |
49% women, 51% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±1.8 points. Across Pennsylvania, 50.7% of residents are women.
| Palmer Township | PA | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 10.2% | 10.8% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 7.2% | 9.7% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 7.4% | 9% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 11.6% | 13% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 10.5% | 12.6% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 14.7% | 11.9% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 14% | 13.6% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 13.5% | 11.4% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 10.8% | 8.1% | 7% |
| No diploma | 4.3% | 7.9% | 10.4% |
| High school | 28.7% | 32.9% | 26% |
| Some college | 16.2% | 15.1% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 8.7% | 8.9% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 26.1% | 20.9% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 16% | 14.3% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Since 1979, Palmer Township has seen 39 flood insurance claims paid out. Storm and flood damage is expected to run lower than in 56% of U.S. communities. Federal disaster aid has reached households in Palmer Township after 2 declared disasters, most recently in 2011. 70% of the town’s expected losses from natural hazards come from inland flooding, followed by hurricanes at 6%.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
8 within 15 miles of the center of Palmer Township
About 7 of every 100 Palmer Township residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Pennsylvania.
Township in Pennsylvania, US
Palmer Township is a township in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population of Palmer Township was 22,317 at the 2020 census. It is the eight-largest municipality in the Lehigh Valley metropolitan area, which had a population of 861,899 and was the 68th-most populous metropolitan area in the U.S. as of the 2020 census. Settled in 1740, Palmer Township is located along the Lehigh River, a 109-mile-long (175 km) tributary of the Delaware River. It is located 12 miles (19 km) northeast of Allentown, 51 miles (82 km) north of Philadelphia, and 66 miles (106 km) west of New York City. Palmer Township is a part of the Greater Easton area, which includes the city of Easton, th…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
10 towns share a border with Palmer Township.
| Town | PA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Palmer Township | #578 | B | C− | B | C | A− |
| Forks Township | #569 | B | C− | A | C | A− |
| Easton | #841 | C | C+ | B | C | C+ |
| Stockertown | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Wilson | #609 | B | C+ | C+ | B | B− |
| Tatamy | — | — | C+ | A+ | A | A− |
| Old Orchard | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Lower Nazareth Township | #272 | A | C | — | A | A− |
Tatamy has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Lower Nazareth Township reports no FBI crime data of its own. Stockertown and Old Orchard aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Palmer Township with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Palmer Township grades B overall, better than 60% of U.S. towns and #578 of 1032 in Pennsylvania. It grades A− for health, B for safety and C for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a C−.
Yes, by national standards. Pennsylvania has less crime than most states, so among its own towns Palmer Township sits nearer the middle.
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−.
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