Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Taylor is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades C overall, 851st among Pennsylvania's 1032 graded towns, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is cost of living: a typical home costs about $222K, 3.4 years of the Scranton metro’s $65K median household income. Its lowest everyday mark is in health: residents are less healthy than 86% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. On civic life, just 147 of Pennsylvania’s 1,717 towns do worse. The biggest park or preserve is McDade Park, at 25 acres. 63% of households own their home in Taylor, below both the Pennsylvania town median (78%) and the median of U.S. towns (73%).
Where Taylor beats most towns.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Pennsylvania), ordered by how far Taylor is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
![A1235-A1239--Taylor, PA--Pyne Mine [1916.08.31]](https://images.townratings.com/story/15520/835ef24bb79f79462ea6-l.jpg)
Census counts: 4,215 in 1900, a peak of 10,428 in 1930, 6,294 in 2020. The archive holds 11 old photos and papers going back to 1916 and 7 maps from 1889 on.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Taylor, 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 Taylor.
Taylor trades workers with Scranton and other neighbors, but it scores below Scranton and its other neighbors on health.
All 3 graded neighbors score healthier than its D, from Scranton (C) to Old Forge (B+).
18% of Taylor adults report frequent physical distress. Taylor beats the Pennsylvania average on 0 of 26 CDC measures and trails it on 13. 21% of Taylor adults smoke cigarettes.
| Taylor | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 14% | 14% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 16% | 14% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 26% | 19% | 19% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 42% | 38% | 36% |
| What stands out | Taylor | PA |
|---|---|---|
| More uninsured adults | 10.2% | 5.8% |
| More adults with COPD | 11.9% | 7.7% |
| More adults who have had a stroke | 5.2% | 3.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Its public schools are run by Riverside SD. Its two schools are below. The largest public high school is Riverside JSHS, with 686 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Riverside El Sch WestLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–2 | Grades K–2 | 352 | – |
| Riverside JSHSLargest public high schoolGrades 7–12 | Grades 7–12 | 686 | B− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within PA on state tests and graduation
1.7 miles of trail in 4 parks and preserves.
| Taylor | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 3.7% | 8.2% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.3 miles per square mile | 0.5 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. McDade Park | 0.5 mi | 25 |
| 2. David Noakes Park / Community Sports Complex | — | 9 |
| 3. Sloan Park | — | 8 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 71% of U.S. communities. One flood insurance claim has been paid in Taylor since 1979.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The typical Taylor home is worth about $223,000, down 1.7% in a year, 23% below the Pennsylvania typical home.
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Taylor has chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 83°, January nights drop to 18° and about 45 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Taylor has about as many jobs (2,698) as working residents, but only 144 people both live and work here.
Most working residents leave Taylor for work: only 6% work in town. The average trip to work in Taylor is 22 minutes. Jobs based in Taylor fell to 2,698 in 2023, 408 fewer than in 2013.
| Taylor | Pennsylvania towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 22 minutes | 26 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 11% | 7.6% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $72,000 | $81,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Taylor. Close and well known come first.
2 mi National Historic SiteSteamtown National Historic Site61K visitors a year
25 mi LakeLake Wallenpaupack3 mi Theme parkRocky Glen Park
29 mi State parkRicketts Glen State Park
4 mi Ski areaMontage Mountain Ski Area25 runs · 998 ft vertical
4 mi GardenNay Aug 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 · Nay Aug Park: The Mebane Greeting Card Co., Wilkes-Barre, PA., Public domain
11 within 15 miles of the center of Taylor
About 4 of every 100 Taylor residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Pennsylvania.
5 notable people were born in Taylor.
Borough in Pennsylvania, US
Taylor is a borough in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, United States, 3 miles (5 km) southwest of Scranton on the Lackawanna River. It was founded in 1790 by Cornelius Atherton. Silk manufacturing and coal mining were once practiced in the borough. Most of Taylor is built over abandoned mines. The Pennsylvania Turnpike Northeast Extension (I-476), accessible via the Keyser Avenue Interchange, passes through Taylor, going north to Clarks Summit and south to Philadelphia. The population of Taylor at the 2020 census was 6,302.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
3 towns share a border with Taylor.
| Town | PA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taylor | #851 | C | B− | — | B− | D |
| Scranton | #1005 | D | C | C | C− | C |
| Moosic | #820 | C+ | C− | C+ | B− | B− |
| Old Forge | #391 | A− | B | A− | B− | B+ |
Taylor reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Taylor with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Taylor grades C overall, better than 33% of U.S. towns and #851 of 1032 in Pennsylvania. It grades D for health and B− for schools. Health is its weak spot, with a D.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B−.
5 notable people were born here, including Hannah Williams and Percy W. Griffiths.
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