Some of you might be asking yourself, at this very moment, is Pennsylvania a good place?
The answer is unequivocally yes… if you know where to locate the best counties to live in Pennsylvania.
Lucky for you, we’re here to help you identify the best counties to live in the Keystone State based on the most recently available data from the Census. And this isn’t our first rodeo — we’ve been using Saturday Night Science to rank places for years.
The question becomes if you wanted to relocate to the best part of Pennsylvania, where would you go? To answer that, we looked at crime, cost of living, and demographic data for all 67 counties in the state.
Chester County is the county to be when it comes to living the good life in Pennsylvania. And you should avoid Philadelphia County if you can — at least according to the data.
$127,208 median income · 3.8% unemployment
$114,764 median income · 4.4% unemployment
$89,843 median income · 4.4% unemployment
$113,915 median income · 4.5% unemployment
$87,494 median income · 3.7% unemployment
$76,976 median income · 2.9% unemployment
$89,184 median income · 4.6% unemployment
$78,958 median income · 4.8% unemployment
$84,092 median income · 3.4% unemployment
$78,548 median income · 5.0% unemployment
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Pennsylvania’s statewide median.
Pennsylvania statewide median: $77,971
Pennsylvania statewide median: $282,736
Pennsylvania statewide median: 5.3%
On the map
Where Pennsylvania’s best counties are
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How do you determine which Pennsylvania county is the best?
To give you the best county in Pennsylvania, we have to look at a handful of metrics that signal the quality of a place. To do that, we made assumptions about what’s in a “best county” and what isn’t. For reference, we are trying to make the kind of argument you’d make at a bar using facts, Saturday Night Science.
With that in mind, we went to two of the best data sources on the internet. Namely, the American Community Survey data and FBI Crime data for the most recent period.
We paid particular attention to:
- Violent Crime Rates
- Property Crime Rates
- Median Home Values
- Median Income
- Unemployment Rates
- Adult Education Levels
- Health Insurance Coverage
- Poverty Rates
We then ranked each county in Pennsylvania across each of the criteria from one to 67, with one being the best.
Taking the average rank across all criteria, we created a quality of life score with the county posting the lowest overall score being the “Best County To Live In Pennsylvania.”
The result is some of the safest, quietest, and best counties to raise a family in the Keystone State.
We updated this article for 2026. This report is our eleventh time ranking the best counties to live in Pennsylvania.
Read on to see why Chester County is the best county, while Philadelphia County is probably in contention for being the worst county in Pennsylvania.
The full plate
Detailed List Of The Best Counties In Pennsylvania
Click any column to sort. Search by county name.
| Rank | County | Population | Median Income | Median Home Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chester County | 547,840 | $127,208 | $571,120 |
| 2 | Bucks County | 647,461 | $114,764 | $517,600 |
| 3 | Butler County | 197,254 | $89,843 | $309,403 |
| 4 | Montgomery County | 867,573 | $113,915 | $486,540 |
| 5 | Cumberland County | 268,323 | $87,494 | $345,528 |
| 6 | Montour County | 18,103 | $76,976 | $274,764 |
| 7 | Northampton County | 318,580 | $89,184 | $363,989 |
| 8 | Washington County | 210,042 | $78,958 | $234,812 |
| 9 | Adams County | 106,115 | $84,092 | $330,293 |
| 10 | Allegheny County | 1,238,177 | $78,548 | $237,963 |
| 11 | York County | 462,924 | $84,829 | $305,195 |
| 12 | Delaware County | 579,222 | $89,546 | $362,148 |
| 13 | Westmoreland County | 352,500 | $74,109 | $203,720 |
| 14 | Beaver County | 166,324 | $71,089 | $200,222 |
| 15 | Centre County | 158,576 | $74,291 | $345,529 |
| 16 | Lancaster County | 557,931 | $86,959 | $381,587 |
| 17 | Pike County | 60,621 | $81,323 | $299,136 |
| 18 | Perry County | 46,239 | $79,444 | $289,440 |
| 19 | Wyoming County | 25,967 | $72,460 | $222,166 |
| 20 | Elk County | 30,506 | $66,380 | $135,582 |
| 21 | Franklin County | 157,379 | $77,003 | $287,840 |
| 22 | Armstrong County | 64,622 | $65,008 | $151,383 |
| 23 | Fulton County | 14,531 | $65,836 | $226,139 |
| 24 | Union County | 42,456 | $76,404 | $288,804 |
| 25 | Lebanon County | 144,186 | $78,425 | $312,952 |
| 26 | Sullivan County | 5,888 | $69,764 | $206,445 |
| 27 | Warren County | 37,920 | $60,480 | $134,885 |
| 28 | Huntingdon County | 43,653 | $65,557 | $179,034 |
| 29 | Blair County | 121,277 | $62,382 | $169,524 |
| 30 | Lehigh County | 378,792 | $80,079 | $358,001 |
| 31 | Tioga County | 40,945 | $64,899 | $216,307 |
| 32 | Columbia County | 65,362 | $64,644 | $238,280 |
| 33 | Monroe County | 167,515 | $83,565 | $309,094 |
| 34 | Dauphin County | 289,593 | $76,242 | $275,929 |
| 35 | Snyder County | 39,668 | $66,876 | $220,764 |
| 36 | Juniata County | 23,379 | $66,318 | $226,915 |
| 37 | Erie County | 269,052 | $63,354 | $216,190 |
| 38 | Lycoming County | 113,489 | $63,917 | $228,850 |
| 39 | Susquehanna County | 38,219 | $68,487 | $234,457 |
| 40 | Berks County | 433,015 | $79,777 | $306,726 |
| 41 | Lackawanna County | 216,146 | $66,223 | $219,839 |
| 42 | Northumberland County | 90,560 | $60,583 | $160,850 |
| 43 | Somerset County | 72,799 | $61,446 | $173,654 |
| 44 | Lawrence County | 85,024 | $61,931 | $156,670 |
| 45 | Bedford County | 47,513 | $59,992 | $207,380 |
| 46 | Cambria County | 131,538 | $58,418 | $95,550 |
| 47 | McKean County | 39,904 | $62,905 | $106,463 |
| 48 | Carbon County | 65,382 | $67,554 | $262,324 |
| 49 | Wayne County | 51,262 | $62,381 | $302,904 |
| 50 | Venango County | 49,801 | $61,522 | $127,374 |
| 51 | Schuylkill County | 143,558 | $68,313 | $161,536 |
| 52 | Potter County | 16,188 | $59,020 | $159,338 |
| 53 | Greene County | 34,835 | $68,041 | $139,552 |
| 54 | Forest County | 6,715 | $52,191 | $124,212 |
| 55 | Cameron County | 4,427 | $50,573 | $83,507 |
| 56 | Mercer County | 109,257 | $59,976 | $172,045 |
| 56 | Jefferson County | 43,864 | $58,686 | $122,665 |
| 58 | Mifflin County | 46,041 | $63,953 | $190,156 |
| 59 | Clarion County | 37,179 | $62,649 | $137,888 |
| 60 | Bradford County | 59,858 | $63,675 | $200,780 |
| 61 | Luzerne County | 327,675 | $63,691 | $214,820 |
| 62 | Clearfield County | 78,635 | $62,152 | $132,928 |
| 63 | Crawford County | 82,716 | $60,476 | $157,667 |
| 63 | Indiana County | 83,042 | $60,208 | $161,605 |
| 65 | Fayette County | 125,997 | $58,236 | $143,352 |
| 66 | Clinton County | 37,798 | $60,816 | $194,173 |
| 67 | Philadelphia County | 1,579,706 | $61,953 | $231,821 |
Source: U.S. Census ACS + FBI crime data via Saturday Night Science. All 67 Pennsylvania counties.
Summary
Summary: The Best Counties In Pennsylvania To Call Home For 2026
Living in Pennsylvania can vary from one part of the state to the next — who woulda thought?
The best counties in Pennsylvania are Chester County, Bucks County, Butler County, Montgomery County, Cumberland County, Montour County, Northampton County, Washington County, Adams County, and Allegheny County.
But now you know the outstanding parts and the parts to avoid, and that’s why you came here to learn at the end of the day.
You are welcome.
