Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Pittston grades C+ overall, 772nd among Pennsylvania's 1032 graded towns, with clear strengths and some subjects that lag. Crime is low: it reports less per resident than 90% of U.S. towns and it is more walkable than 81% of U.S. towns. On the other side, FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 77% of U.S. communities, with inland flooding at the top. Only 144 of Pennsylvania’s 1,749 towns score lower on health. 20% of residents live below the poverty line in Pittston, above both Pennsylvania’s towns (7.6%) and U.S. towns (9.6%). Fort Pittston School is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Where Pittston beats most towns.
Where Pittston’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 Pittston is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 3,682 in 1860, a peak of 18,497 in 1920, 7,591 in 2020. The archive holds 18 old photos and papers going back to 1860 and 5 maps from 1893 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Pittston, 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 Pittston.
Pittston is healthier than towns with similar incomes and has seen reported crime fall by about half, but it carries more natural-hazard risk than most of Pennsylvania (mostly inland flooding).
Reported crimes fell from 45 to 0 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings. Violent crime is rare: 5 reported in 2024, 0.7 per 1,000 residents.
Pittston’s property crime rate is 5 per 1,000 residents.
| Pittston | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2024) | 5 per 1,000 residents | 6.8 | 11.5 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2024) | 0.7 per 1,000 residents | 0.8 | 1.7 |
FBI crime data, 2024 · crimes reported to police
Its public schools are run by Pittston Area SD. Its one school is below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pittston City Intrmd CtrLargest public elementary schoolGrades 3–5 | Grades 3–5 | 730 | C |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within PA on state tests and graduation
Against the 5,778 U.S. towns with household incomes like Pittston’s, it is less healthy than 55%, so its C− isn’t only a matter of income.
Pittston beats the Pennsylvania average on 0 of 26 CDC measures and trails it on 15. 16% of adults report frequent physical distress in Pittston.
| Pittston | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 14% | 14% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 41% | 35% | 35% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 16% | 17% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 41% | 38% | 36% |
| What stands out | Pittston | PA |
|---|---|---|
| More uninsured adults | 9.2% | 5.8% |
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 20.9% | 14.5% |
| More smokers | 20.3% | 15.8% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Jobs based here grew from 1,403 in 2013 to 2,126.
Most working residents leave Pittston for work: only 6% work in town. The median household income in Pittston is $50,000. Since 2013, Pittston has added 723 jobs, to 2,126 in 2023.
| Pittston | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $50,000 | $81,000 | $80,000 |
| Work from home | 6.4% | 12% | 11% |
| Average trip to work | 23 minutes | 26 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 95% of Pennsylvania towns, with expected losses of about $343 per resident a year; that rating is what its C− for hazard risk is built on.
Since 1979, 57 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Pittston.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The typical Pittston home is worth about $217,000, up 4.8% in a year, 25% below the Pennsylvania typical home. 47% of Pittston households own their home.
| Pittston | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 47% | 78% | 73% |
| Median rent | $871 a month | $1,116 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Pittston has chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 84°, January nights drop to 18° and about 45 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
0.3 miles of trail in 2 parks and preserves.
| Pittston | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.2 miles per square mile | 0.5 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 3.5% | 8.2% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Sullivan Park | 0.2 mi | 7 |
| 2. Riverfront Park | — | 2 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Pittston. Close and well known come first.
8 mi National Historic SiteSteamtown National Historic Site61K visitors a year
29 mi LakeLake Wallenpaupack
25 mi State parkRicketts Glen State Park4 mi Theme parkRocky Glen Park
21 mi State parkHickory Run State Park
7 mi Ski areaMontage Mountain Ski Area25 runs · 998 ft verticalSteamtown National Historic Site: National Park Service, Public domain · Lake Wallenpaupack: Doug Kerr from Albany, NY, United States, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Ricketts Glen State Park: en:User:Msitler, Public domain · Hickory Run State Park: Mtruch, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Montage Mountain Ski Area: Montage Mountain Resorts, CC BY-SA 4.0
12 within 15 miles of the center of Pittston
About 4 of every 100 Pittston residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Pennsylvania.
City in Pennsylvania, US
Pittston is a city in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. The city lies in the Wyoming Valley on the east side of the Susquehanna River and on the south side of the Lackawanna River. It is approximately midway between Wilkes-Barre and Scranton. Pittston is 68.7 miles (110.6 km) north of Allentown and 129.2 miles (207.9 km) northwest of New York City. The population was 7,591 as of the 2020 census, making it Luzerne County's fourth-largest city. At its peak in 1920, the population of Pittston was 18,497. The city consists of three sections: Downtown Pittston in the city's center, the Oregon Section in the city's southern end, and the Junction in the city's northern end. Pittston Cit…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
6 towns share a border with Pittston.
| Town | PA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pittston | #772 | C+ | B | A | C+ | C− |
| Pittston Township | #895 | C | C+ | C− | C+ | C+ |
| Browntown | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Exeter | #762 | C+ | C+ | — | B− | B |
| West Pittston | #780 | C+ | C+ | — | B− | C+ |
| Duryea | #921 | C− | C+ | B+ | C+ | C− |
| Jenkins Township | #1007 | D | C− | — | C+ | C+ |
Exeter, West Pittston and Jenkins Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Browntown isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Pittston with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Pittston grades C+ overall, better than 42% of U.S. towns and #772 of 1032 in Pennsylvania. It grades C− for health, A for safety and C+ for schools. Hazard risk is its weak spot, with a C−.
That is 3.3 years of the area's median household income ($65,158 across the Scranton--Wilkes-Barre, PA metro area). 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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