Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 3,133, settled in 1832.
Summit Hill gives you more for your money than most places: a typical home costs about $156K, 1.8 years of the Allentown metro’s $85K median household income. It grades C+ overall, 749th among Pennsylvania's 1032 graded towns. The low prices come with trade-offs. Its public schools trail 89% of Pennsylvania towns on state tests and graduation, and the median household income is $65K, and 24% of residents live below the poverty line. On the plus side, crime is low: it reports less per resident than 96% of U.S. towns. Summit Hill’s average trip to work is 38 minutes, above both Pennsylvania’s towns (26 minutes) and U.S. towns (25 minutes). On hazard risk, just 134 of Pennsylvania’s 1,751 towns do better. Summit Hill has 1 place on the National Register.
Where Summit Hill beats most towns.
19.2% of the town is conserved land, across 3 parks and preserves.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Pennsylvania), ordered by how far Summit Hill is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 2,816 in 1890, a peak of 5,567 in 1930, 3,120 in 2020. The archive holds 8 old photos and papers going back to 1890 and 7 maps from 1889 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Summit Hill, 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 Summit Hill.
Summit Hill trades lower home prices for longer drives to work, reports less crime than Nesquehoning or any other graded neighbor and is one of Pennsylvania’s best towns for the outdoors.
Its A+ for the outdoors ranks #11 of 1,037 in Pennsylvania.
22 miles of trail in 3 parks and preserves. The trail density in Summit Hill is 2.4 miles per square mile.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Ludlow Park | — | 3 |
| 2. Trooper Melley Memorial Park | — | 3 |
| 3. Memorial Park | — | 2 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its public schools are run by Panther Valley SD. Its two schools are below. The largest public high school is Panther Valley JSHS, with 759 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Panther Valley Intermediate SchLargest public middle schoolGrades 4–6 | Grades 4–6 | 458 | C− |
| Panther Valley JSHSLargest public high schoolGrades 7–12 | Grades 7–12 | 759 | C− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within PA on state tests and graduation
Its A+ tops all 5 graded towns on its borders; Nesquehoning (B+) comes closest.
Summit Hill’s property crime rate is 0.3 per 1,000 residents.
| Summit Hill | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.3 per 1,000 residents | 5.7 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 1 per 1,000 residents | 0.7 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 93% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Homes are within reach (about $156K for the typical one, A− for cost of living), but half of working residents commute more than 22 miles. At 1.8 years of the Allentown metro’s $85K median household income, the typical home (about $156K) costs less against local pay than in 93% of Pennsylvania towns; that ratio is one input to its A− for cost of living.
Typical home values rose 6% in the year to September 2026.
| Summit Hill | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 82% | 78% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,279 a month | $1,114 a month | $1,185 a month |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Summit Hill has 231 jobs for its 1,447 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out. The average commute takes 38 minutes, against 26.3 across Pennsylvania.
Most working residents leave Summit Hill for work: only 5% work in town. Since 2013, Summit Hill has added 109 jobs, to 231 in 2023. The top destinations are Rush Township (4%), Lehighton (4%) and Upper Macungie Township (4%).
| Summit Hill | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $65,000 | $81,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 5.3% | 6.3% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Summit Hill beats the Pennsylvania average on 0 of 26 CDC measures and trails it on 9. 21% of adults smoke cigarettes in Summit Hill.
| Summit Hill | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 16% | 14% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 14% | 14% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 16% | 17% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 40% | 38% | 36% |
| What stands out | Summit Hill | PA |
|---|---|---|
| More uninsured adults | 7.9% | 5.8% |
| More smokers | 20.7% | 15.8% |
| More adults with COPD | 9.8% | 7.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Summit Hill has chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers, with plenty of rain. July afternoons reach 82°, January nights drop to 18° and about 43 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Summit Hill. Close and well known come first.
24 mi Theme parkDorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom35 mi Theme parkKnoebels Amusement Resort
25 mi Stadium & arenaPPL Center
6 mi MuseumAsa Packer Mansion
17 mi State parkHickory Run State Park
26 mi Park & preserveRoadside AmericaDorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom: Coasterman1234 at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 · PPL Center: Hunter Kahn, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Asa Packer Mansion: Chris18240 (talk), Public domain · Hickory Run State Park: Mtruch, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Roadside America: Mark Fleisher, President and CEO of Aim Advertising in Lewisburg, PA,, Public domain
1 within 15 miles of the center of Summit Hill
About 2 of every 100 Summit Hill residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Pennsylvania.
Where Summit Hill’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Borough in Pennsylvania, US
Summit Hill is a borough in Carbon County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, Summit Hill had a population of 3,120. Summit Hill was the western terminus of the United States' second operational railway, the Mauch Chunk Switchback Railway. It was the site of some of the earliest coal mines developed in North America, where the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company began mining in 1792, establishing the town initially as little more than a mining camp with stables and paddocks.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Summit Hill.
Mahoning Township next door grades higher for schools (B− to Summit Hill’s D) and lower for cost of living (B− to A−).
| Town | PA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Summit Hill | #749 | C+ | A− | A+ | D | C |
| Lansford | #977 | C− | A+ | C | D | C− |
| Nesquehoning | #887 | C | A− | B+ | D | C− |
| Mahoning Township | #852 | C | B− | C | B− | B− |
| Jim Thorpe | #456 | B+ | B+ | B− | C+ | B |
| Tamaqua | #843 | C | B+ | B+ | C+ | D |
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Summit Hill grades C+ overall, better than 44% of U.S. towns and #749 of 1032 in Pennsylvania. It grades C for health, A+ for safety and D for schools. Schools is its weak spot, with a D.
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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