QoL Rank
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Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania has a quality of life score of 54/100 (C, average) and ranks #20 of 51 states. Its strongest category is safety (65) and its weakest is quality of life (36). Its top-rated larger counties are Cumberland County, Butler County, Chester County.

  • Safety: 65
  • Cost of living: 53
  • Education: 63
  • Quality of life: 36

Key figures: violent crime 238.4 per 100,000 people a year (US 345.2); median rent $1,209 a month; median home value $254,500; median household income $73,826; life expectancy 76.9 years.

Counties in Pennsylvania, best first

  1. Cumberland County 70
  2. Butler County 68
  3. Chester County 68
  4. Westmoreland County 68
  5. Centre County 66
  6. Washington County 66
  7. Montgomery County 66
  8. Bucks County 65
  9. Elk County 64
  10. Adams County 62
  11. Fulton County 62
  12. Union County 61
  13. Montour County 61
  14. Somerset County 60
  15. Franklin County 59
  16. Allegheny County 58
  17. McKean County 57
  18. Mercer County 57
  19. Pike County 57
  20. Jefferson County 57
  21. Northampton County 56
  22. Snyder County 56
  23. Clearfield County 56
  24. Armstrong County 56
  25. Lancaster County 56
  26. Lebanon County 56
  27. Beaver County 56
  28. Clarion County 56
  29. Warren County 55
  30. Indiana County 55
  31. Blair County 55
  32. Cameron County 55
  33. Forest County 55
  34. York County 55
  35. Columbia County 55
  36. Crawford County 55
  37. Cambria County 55
  38. Potter County 54
  39. Erie County 54
  40. Greene County 54
  41. Susquehanna County 54
  42. Bradford County 53
  43. Venango County 53
  44. Perry County 53
  45. Lycoming County 53
  46. Lackawanna County 51
  47. Sullivan County 51
  48. Lehigh County 51
  49. Bedford County 51
  50. Wyoming County 51
  51. Tioga County 50
  52. Delaware County 50
  53. Monroe County 50
  54. Juniata County 49
  55. Berks County 49
  56. Lawrence County 48
  57. Northumberland County 47
  58. Mifflin County 47
  59. Wayne County 47
  60. Dauphin County 47
  61. Carbon County 46
  62. Clinton County 46
  63. Schuylkill County 46
  64. Huntingdon County 45
  65. Luzerne County 45
  66. Fayette County 41
  67. Philadelphia County 28

Your priorities

Choose how much each category counts toward the overall score. The map, rankings and every place’s overall score update as you go.

About the data

Every county is compared with every other US county, and every state with the other states.

Each measure becomes a percentile from 0 to 100, where 100 is always best. For crime, deaths, disaster risk, costs and commutes, the lowest value is best. A category score averages its measures’ percentiles and is then scaled so all four categories have the same spread around 50, so each counts equally. The overall score is the average of the four. 50 is a typical place, and most land between 35 and 65. Your priorities lets you weight the categories differently.

Grades: A 65 and up, B 55–64, C 45–54, D 35–44, F under 35.

Each category lists a county’s own figures next to its state’s and the US figures. Under the state and US columns, Difference shows whether the county is higher or lower, as a share of that figure (hover for the exact gap). Rank shows where it ranks instead: “ranked 75%” means it does better than 75% of the counties in its state, or in the US. A green arrow or dot means the county does better, red means worse.

Compare puts any two places side by side, counties or states, in any state. The better value in each row is highlighted.

A county gets an overall score only if all four categories have data and at least 60% of the measures are present. Small counties often have suppressed data, and without this rule they rank at the top on just a few numbers. Top 10 lists only include counties with at least 10,000 people.

What’s measured

Limitations

Sources