Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
This town of 3,295 people was settled in 1853.
Pittston Township’s grades pull in different directions. Where it falls short is safety: its police reported 5 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025, a higher rate per resident than 81% of U.S. towns. Incomes are its strong suit: the median household earns $69K. At about $186K, a typical home costs 2.9 years of the Scranton metro’s $65K median household income. All told, that adds up to a C overall and a rank of 895th of 1032 in Pennsylvania. That leaves it better than 28% of U.S. towns. A fifth of the land here is conserved, against 8.2% in Pennsylvania’s towns and 4.3% across U.S. towns. State Game Lands Number 91, at 935 acres with 1.5 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve.
Figures: incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · FBI crime data, 2025 · home values, Zillow · USGS PAD-US · OpenStreetMap.
Where Pittston Township beats most towns.
Where Pittston Township’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 Township is from typical.
Its best grade is an A for the outdoors (#99 of 1,037 in Pennsylvania; 19 miles of trails; 20% conserved land), which describes the town but isn’t part of the overall grade; its C comes from the livability subjects above.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 3,682 in 1860, a peak of 18,497 in 1920, 7,591 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1860 and 6 maps from 1889 on.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Pittston 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 Pittston Township.
Pittston Township draws workers from Scranton and beyond, but it reports more crime than Dupont and its other graded neighbors.
The trail network density in Pittston Township is 1.4 miles per square mile. Across 4 parks and preserves: 19 miles of trail. Parks and preserves locally: 4, covering 1,478 acres.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Pinchot State Forest | 2.1 mi | 511 |
| 2. State Game Lands Number 91 | 1.5 mi | 935 |
| 3. Montage Mountain Wildflower Sanctuary | 0.1 mi | 22 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its one school is below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Northeast Secure Treatment UnitLargest public high schoolGrades 7–12 | Grades 7–12 | 37 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within PA on state tests and graduation
8,312 jobs are based in Pittston Township, 5.2 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in. Jobs based here grew from 4,286 in 2013 to 8,312.
The top destinations are Wilkes-Barre (10%), Scranton (8%) and Plains Township (6%). Commuting out is the norm in Pittston Township: 9% of working residents work locally. Jobs in Pittston Township grew by 4,026 from 2013 to 2023, reaching 8,312. For workers here, the share who do their job from home is 15%.
| Pittston Township | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 15% | 12% | 11% |
| Below the poverty line | 6.1% | 7.6% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $69,000 | $81,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Each of the 3 graded towns on its borders reports less crime per resident, from Dupont (B) to Avoca (A). Reported crimes fell from 106 to 79 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
For Pittston Township, the property crime rate is 22.5 per 1,000 residents. The level of violent crime for Pittston Township comes to 1.5 per 1,000 residents.
| Pittston Township | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 22.5 per 1,000 residents | 5.7 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 1.5 per 1,000 residents | 0.7 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Pittston Township’s peak summer temperature is 82°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Compared with 66% of U.S. communities, expected storm and flood damage in Pittston Township is lower. 81% of the town’s expected losses from natural hazards come from inland flooding, followed by cold waves at 6%. Since 2006, Pittston Township has seen 2 flood insurance claims paid out.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The share of adults in Pittston Township who have high blood pressure: 36%. In Pittston Township, 38% of adults have obesity, and 15% report frequent physical distress.
| Pittston Township | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 16% | 14% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 38% | 35% | 35% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 14% | 14% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 18% | 16% |
| What stands out | Pittston Township | PA |
|---|---|---|
| More uninsured adults | 7.4% | 5.8% |
| More adults with arthritis | 36.3% | 30.4% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 10.3% | 8.8% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
In Pittston Township, the median age is 46.6 years. No broad age group is more than 4 points off the Pennsylvania average. Just over a fifth of residents are 65 or older locally. The bachelor’s-degree share among adults 25 and older is 31%, against 35% across Pennsylvania.
| Pittston Township | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 46.6 years | 43.2 years | 40.5 years |
| Aged 65 or older | 22% | 21% | 18% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 31% | 29% | 29% |
50% women, 50% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±7.3 points. Across Pennsylvania, 50.7% of residents are women.
| Pittston Township | PA | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 9% | 10.8% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 9.7% | 9.7% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 5.8% | 9% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 14.7% | 13% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 10.1% | 12.6% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 9.7% | 11.9% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 18.8% | 13.6% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 13.1% | 11.4% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 9% | 8.1% | 7% |
| No diploma | 6.5% | 7.9% | 10.4% |
| High school | 38% | 32.9% | 26% |
| Some college | 15.2% | 15.1% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 9% | 8.9% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 18% | 20.9% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 13.2% | 14.3% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 3,300, single groups can be off by several points
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Pittston Township. Close and well known come first.
7 mi National Historic SiteSteamtown National Historic Site61K visitors a year
26 mi LakeLake Wallenpaupack3 mi Theme parkRocky Glen Park
28 mi State parkRicketts Glen State Park
4 mi Ski areaMontage Mountain Ski Area25 runs · 998 ft vertical
19 mi State parkHickory Run State ParkSteamtown 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 · Montage Mountain Ski Area: Montage Mountain Resorts, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Hickory Run State Park: Mtruch, CC BY-SA 3.0
10 within 15 miles of the center of Pittston Township
About 2 of every 100 Pittston Township residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Pennsylvania.
19.9% of the town is conserved land, across 4 parks and preserves.
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)
8 towns share a border with Pittston Township.
| Town | PA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pittston Township | #895 | C | C+ | C− | C+ | C+ |
| Pittston | #772 | C+ | B | A | C+ | C− |
| Browntown | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Dupont | #546 | B | A− | B | C+ | B− |
| Spring Brook Township | #641 | B | C+ | — | A | B |
| Jenkins Township | #1007 | D | C− | — | C+ | C+ |
| Hughestown | — | — | B− | A− | C+ | C+ |
| Avoca | #363 | A− | B | A | C+ | B |
Hughestown has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Spring Brook Township 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 Township with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Pittston Township grades C overall, better than 28% of U.S. towns and #895 of 1032 in Pennsylvania. It grades C+ for health, C− for safety and C+ for schools. Safety is its weak spot, with a C−.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C+.
.jpg){kind=link}
