Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 3,335 in Pennsylvania. Public schools that outperform most of Pennsylvania.
A solid town with one catch. Its best grade is for cost of living: a typical home costs about $125K, 2.1 years of the Johnstown metro’s $58K median household income. The catch is walkability. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 84% of U.S. towns. Overall, that makes an A, good for 215th of 1032 in Pennsylvania. It comes out better than 89% of U.S. towns. Bridge in Portage Township is on the National Register of Historic Places. The town’s midpoint age is 53.4 years, where Pennsylvania’s towns sit at 43.2 years and U.S. towns at 40.5 years.
Figures: home values, Zillow · incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · National Register of Historic Places.
Where Portage Township beats most towns.
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Portage Area El Sch | PK–6 | 401 |
Bridge in Portage TownshipWhere Portage 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 Portage Township is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 274 in 1880, a peak of 4,804 in 1920, 2,459 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1856 and 5 maps from 1902 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Explore the history →Who provides power, water and the rest in Portage 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 Portage Township.
Portage Township pairs an A for schools with modest home prices and is healthier than towns with similar incomes, but it has lost a quarter or more of its jobs in ten years.
Its A for schools comes with an A+ for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $125K.
Its public schools are run by Portage Area SD. Enrollment at Portage Township’s public school: 401 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Portage Area El SchLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–6 | Grades PK–6 | 401 | A− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within PA on state tests and graduation
In Portage Township, the FEMA risk score is 19 of 100. 76% of the town’s expected losses from natural hazards come from inland flooding, followed by cold waves at 6%. Flood insurance has paid out on 12 claims here since 1978.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Jobs based here fell from 639 in 2013 to 444.
Portage Township’s typical journey to work comes in at 30 minutes. Only 10% of working residents stay in Portage Township for work; the rest commute out. It had 444 jobs in 2023, down 195 from 2013. For half of commuters, work is under 13 miles away.
| Portage Township | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 30 minutes | 26 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $63,000 | $81,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 9.6% | 6.3% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Portage Township’s July high stands at 80°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The biggest park or preserve is State Game Lands Number 26, at 463 acres. Across 2 parks and preserves: 5.6 miles of trail. In Portage Township, the trail network density is 0.2 miles per square mile.
| Portage Township | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.2 miles per square mile | 0.5 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 4% | 8.2% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. State Game Lands Number 26 | 0.8 mi | 463 |
| 2. Crichton McCormick Park | — | 5 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Against the 9,611 U.S. towns with household incomes like Portage Township’s, it is healthier than 59%, so its C+ isn’t only a matter of income.
Portage Township: 27% of adults get no exercise outside work. Among adults here, 15% report frequent physical distress and 13% have diabetes.
| Portage Township | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 16% | 14% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 14% | 14% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 11% | 12% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 24% | 25% |
| What stands out | Portage Township | PA |
|---|---|---|
| More adults with COPD | 9.8% | 7.7% |
| More adults with heart disease | 9.4% | 7.4% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 10.6% | 8.8% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Portage Township. Close and well known come first.
Big draw24 mi National MemorialFlight 93 National Memorial286K visitors a year
7 mi DamSouth Fork Dam
7 mi National Historic SiteAllegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site163K visitors a year
34 mi LakeRaystown Lake
15 mi Theme parkLakemont Park
8 mi Ski areaBlue Knob24 runs · 1,007 ft verticalFlight 93 National Memorial: James Steakley, CC BY-SA 3.0 · South Fork Dam: Ernest Walter Histed, Public domain · Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site: Matthew A. Lynn; Original uploader was Mosamiazaz at en.wikipedia, Public domain · Raystown Lake: Tex Jobe, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Public domain · Lakemont Park: Bhakta Dano. Original uploader was Oldano at en.wikipedia, Public domain · Blue Knob: Calzarette, CC BY 3.0
4 within 15 miles of the center of Portage Township
About 3 of every 100 Portage Township residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Pennsylvania.
Borough in Pennsylvania, US
Portage is a borough with home rule status in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is 10 miles (16 km) southeast of Ebensburg and 22 miles (35 km) southwest of Altoona. It is part of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 2,388 at the 2023 US census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
6 towns share a border with Portage Township.
| Town | PA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portage Township | #215 | A | A+ | — | A | C+ |
| Summerhill Township | — | — | A | — | A− | C+ |
| Washington Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Munster Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Cassandra | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Greenfield Township | #484 | B+ | B+ | B+ | B+ | C+ |
| Juniata Township | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Summerhill Township has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Portage Township and Summerhill Township report no FBI crime data of their own. Washington Township, Munster Township, Cassandra and Juniata Township aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Portage Township with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Portage Township grades A overall, better than 89% of U.S. towns and #215 of 1032 in Pennsylvania. It grades C+ for health and A for schools. Walkability 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+.
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