Harrisburg, the state capital · Photo: Ted Van Pelt · CC BY 2.0How Pennsylvania stacks up
Few states have towns as safe as North Union Township and Penn Township, and few of those also have cities like Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Upper Darby Township, where reported crime ranks in the top quarter nationally; Pennsylvania has both. Look town by town and Pennsylvania has a national leader: Greensburg for natural-hazard risk. Pennsylvania ranks 7th overall, with an A and a score of 88.
Each subject puts the official state figure beside a measure built from our town grades. How this works
Safety
7th of 51A88/100 Safe overall, with a sharp divide. At 229 violent crimes per 100,000 residents, Pennsylvania sits 16th lowest among the states. Penn Township and South Lebanon Township rank among the best towns in the country for safety; Philadelphia and Pittsburgh sit in the bottom quarter. Few places anywhere beat North Union Township, #3 of 3,410 towns for safety.
Counting property crime too (property + 4 × violent, the weighting our town grades use): 17th lowest.
Source: FBI Crime Data Explorer, state estimate 2025.
Measure: reported crime per resident over the engine’s three crime years (property + 4 × violent), as in our Safety grades. 196 Pennsylvania towns of 10,000+ against 3,410 nationally. Covers 84% of residents of Pennsylvania’s 10,000+ towns.
A safe state with a few hard places
That mix is unusual: New Hampshire and Rhode Island, also near the top, have almost no high-crime towns. In Upper Merion Township and Plymouth Township, property crime rather than violence puts them in the quarter reporting the most crime; violent crime there is below the national middle. Its safest larger towns are Adams Township (#12) and Upper Providence Township (#16), ranked against every U.S. town of 10,000+.
| State | Safest quarter | Most-crime quarter | Split |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Hampshire | 42% | 0% | |
| Rhode Island | 37% | 0% | |
| New Jersey | 35% | 20% | |
| Pennsylvania | 29% | 37% | |
| Maine | 29% | 15% | |
| Massachusetts | 29% | 24% |
Places without a police force of their own
Each town’s figure is built from its own department’s FBI reports, so towns with gaps sit out rather than being estimated. Here the towns counted hold 84% of residents of towns of 10,000+. Lancaster, Lower Paxton Township, Penn Hills and nine more are missing too many years to count. In Middletown Township, Hempfield Township, Lower Macungie Township and 54 other places, county or state police answer the calls, so there is no town figure. Next door, coverage runs from 28% in Maryland to 83% in New Jersey.
Schools
7th of 51A88/100 Strong schools overall, unusually split. Measured on the one test every state gives, 34% of its students reach Proficient (12th highest). From Peters Township to Philadelphia, its towns sit at both ends of the national ranking. Only Massachusetts and one other state put more residents in the nation’s strongest-school quarter of towns.
In the class of 2023, 87.5% graduated on time, 20th highest; graduation counts as much as test results in the grade.
Spending: $21,758 per pupil, 11th highest. Shown for context, not graded.
Source: NCES, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2024, public schools; EDFacts graduation rates; Census school finance.
Measure: graduation rate and test results, averaged; each district’s state-test proficiency is put on the NAEP yardstick (its result ÷ the state average × the state’s NAEP proficiency) so districts compare across states. 265 Pennsylvania towns of 10,000+ against 5,230 nationally.
Cost of living
22nd of 51B58/100 Somewhat affordable. Its towns beat the statewide figure. Property-tax bills run $3,311 a year, the 19th highest of the 50 states and D.C. 43% of residents live in a top-quarter town; St. Marys ranks highest, at #33.
Against income, home values rank 15th lowest: 3.3 times the median household’s.
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: our cost-of-living score: home value, rent and tax bill against area income, plus the share paying 30%+ for housing. 263 Pennsylvania towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Health
20th of 51B62/100 A little healthier than average. 23% of residents live in a top-quarter town, 37% in a bottom-quarter one; Lower Merion Township ranks highest. CDC estimates put 19% of adults in fair or poor health, the 25th highest share among the states.
Source: CDC PLACES 2025 release (BRFSS model estimates).
Measure: our health score: seven CDC PLACES measures (general, physical and mental health, obesity, diabetes, smoking, inactivity). 263 Pennsylvania towns of 10,000+ against 5,218 nationally.
Housing
6th of 51A90/100 Home ownership runs high. New Hanover Township is among the ten best towns in the country for home ownership (#6). About 7 in 10 homes are lived in by their owners (17th highest). Philadelphia and Pittsburgh weigh on the town measure; 43% of residents live in bottom-quarter places.
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: share of occupied homes that are owner-occupied. 263 Pennsylvania towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Natural hazards
12th of 51A−78/100 Low risk, town after town. Compared with $155 nationally, FEMA expects $99 a year in damage per $100,000 of buildings here. Greensburg is the best towns in the country for hazard risk. Almost no one here lives in a bottom-quarter town; State College and Richland Township are typical.
Federal major-disaster declarations, 2015–2025: 5, 10th fewest.
Share of expected building damage: inland flooding 87%, hurricane 5%, earthquake 4%.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index v1.20 (Dec. 2025): expected annual building loss over building value, all census tracts; FEMA disaster declarations.
Measure: FEMA National Risk Index: expected yearly building loss from 18 natural hazards, as a share of building value. 265 Pennsylvania towns of 10,000+ against 5,239 nationally.
Commute
36th of 51C30/100 Commutes a bit longer than average. Commutes stretch longest from Philadelphia. Getting to work takes 26.3 minutes on average (16th longest). 15% of residents live in a top-quarter town, 30% in a bottom-quarter one; St. Marys ranks highest.
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: average one-way commute of the town’s workers. 263 Pennsylvania towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Growth
47th of 51D8/100 Among the slowest-growing states. Its towns mostly sit mid-table; Marshall Township ranks highest, at #236. At +2.4% from 2010 to 2020, growth here was the 8th slowest among the states.
Building: 2.0 new homes permitted per 1,000 residents in 2025, 6th fewest.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 and 2020 decennial counts; Census building permits.
Measure: population change between the 2010 and 2020 censuses. 263 Pennsylvania towns of 10,000+ against 5,079 nationally.
How Pennsylvania compares to its neighbors
None of its neighbors (New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and West Virginia) matches it on housing.
| Pennsylvania | New York | New Jersey | Delaware | Maryland | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | A 887th of 51 | C 3235th of 51 | A− 7613th of 51 | C 3434th of 51 | B− 4628th of 51 |
| Safety | A 8816th official · 29% in top towns | B− 4635th official · 9% in top towns | A 946th official · 35% in top towns | C− 1632nd official · 0% in top towns | C− 2434th official · 1% in top towns |
| Schools | A 8812th official · 38% in top towns | B+ 7427th official · 20% in top towns | A+ 1002nd official · 38% in top towns | C− 2247th official · 0% in top towns | B 5820th official · 11% in top towns |
| Cost of living | B 5833rd official · 43% in top towns | C− 1648th official · 5% in top towns | D 851st official · 3% in top towns | A− 7613th official · 32% in top towns | C+ 4039th official · 25% in top towns |
| Health | B 6227th official · 23% in top towns | B+ 6620th official · 22% in top towns | A− 8412th official · 41% in top towns | C+ 3829th official · 9% in top towns | A− 7618th official · 29% in top towns |
| Housing | A 9017th official · 26% in top towns | C+ 3650th official · 21% in top towns | B 5840th official · 30% in top towns | A 885th official · 10% in top towns | A− 8223rd official · 21% in top towns |
| Natural hazards | A− 7811th official · 39% in top towns | A+ 964th official · 74% in top towns | B 5624th official · 10% in top towns | B+ 6617th official · 15% in top towns | A+ 982nd official · 98% in top towns |
| Commute | C 3036th official · 15% in top towns | D 1251st official · 17% in top towns | D− 049th official · 1% in top towns | C+ 3634th official · 15% in top towns | D− 250th official · 1% in top towns |
| Growth | D 844th official · 9% in top towns | C− 2233rd official · 2% in top towns | C+ 3826th official · 12% in top towns | B 6214th official · 27% in top towns | B 5623rd official · 27% in top towns |
Each cell: the subject’s grade and score, the state’s rank on the official figure (1st = the better end), and the share of residents of 10,000+ towns living in a nationally top-quarter town. Neighbor names open their report cards.
How this report card works
Two measures, side by side. The left card is the figure a state agency or federal survey publishes for the whole state, ranked against the other 49 states and D.C. The right card is built from our town grades: of everyone living in the state’s towns and cities of 10,000+, the share whose town falls in the national top quarter of 10,000+ towns. A state can do well on one and not the other; that difference is often the story.
Scores and grades. Each subject’s score (0–100) is the state’s standing among the 50 states and D.C.: the two measures’ percentiles averaged, then ranked again, the same method as our town grades. 100 is the best state, 0 the last. Letters use the town-grade scale (A+ from 95, A from 85, A− from 75 … D below 15). The overall score weighs safety 18, cost of living 18, schools 16, health 14, commute 10, housing 8, natural hazards 8, growth 8 (out of 100). D.C., a single city, is left out of the town measure and graded on official figures alone.
What it is not. A state figure averages everyone, so it cannot show whether a state is evenly good or a mix of very good and struggling places. The town measure shows the mix but leaves out towns under 10,000 and towns missing data. Neither says anything about any one neighborhood.
Schools use the Nation’s Report Card because each state’s own tests are set to different bars. Hazards use FEMA’s expected building damage, the same loss rate behind our town hazard grades. Sources are named under each figure. How grades work