Ranked · Buying a home · Pennsylvania

Best cities for buying a home in Pennsylvania

Cities of 25,000+ residents, scored with the “Buying a home” weighting the live tool uses, heaviest on median home price, property tax rate, home price yoy, cost of living index. Scores are relative to this set; open the tool to change the weights and re-rank.

1. 1.Chester, PA34k residents

   67/100

   median home price: $83,100 · property tax rate: 1.5% · home price yoy: —

2. 2.Wilkes-Barre, PA44k residents

   66/100

   median home price: $117,200 · property tax rate: 1.5% · home price yoy: +1.5%

3. 3.Plum, PA27k residents

   64/100

   median home price: $227,600 · property tax rate: 1.5% · home price yoy: —

4. 4.Reading, PA95k residents

   62/100

   median home price: $121,300 · property tax rate: 1.5% · home price yoy: +2.9%

5. 5.Scranton, PA76k residents

   62/100

   median home price: $158,100 · property tax rate: 1.5% · home price yoy: -2.6%

6. 6.Altoona, PA43k residents

   62/100

   median home price: $119,900 · property tax rate: 1.5% · home price yoy: +4.2%

7. 7.Monroeville, PA28k residents

   62/100

   median home price: $209,800 · property tax rate: 1.5% · home price yoy: +2.0%

8. 8.Harrisburg, PA50k residents

   61/100

   median home price: $124,200 · property tax rate: 1.5% · home price yoy: +3.4%

9. 9.York, PA45k residents

   61/100

   median home price: $119,700 · property tax rate: 1.5% · home price yoy: +3.6%

10. 10.Hazleton, PA30k residents

    61/100

    median home price: $151,600 · property tax rate: 1.5% · home price yoy: +2.1%

Methodology: each city is scored 0–100 by min–max normalizing every weighted facet across this candidate set (direction-aware), identical math to the tool's “Best fit” tab. A different weighting produces a different order, which is the point: this is a starting shortlist, not a verdict.