These 18 PA Towns Ranked Among Best - Or Worst - In America, New Study Says

Some Pennsylvania towns are doing well as the economy improves. But a new study says that many are not, and they're ranked among the worst in America.

WalletHub’s analysts compared 1,268 cities with populations between 25,000 and 100,000, based on 30 key indicators of livability, according to the study. They range from “housing costs” to “school-system quality” to “number of restaurants per capita.”

The consumer analyst firm then evaluated "relevant metrics," including housing costs, the unemployment rate, the percentage of people living in poverty, population growth, high school graduation rate, premature death rate, adult obesity and safety, among other categories.

View methodology here.

Below is the list of towns and where they fell on the list. The first list shows towns in the top 50 percent, and the rest are in the bottom 50 percent. You may be surprised to see what towns beat others.

Top 50 percent:

• 107 Bethel Park
• 204 Monroeville
• 323 Easton
• 381 State College
• 435 Altoona
• 449 Lancaster
• 523 Bethlehem
• 579 York

Bottom 50 percent:

• 641 Norristown
• 673 Scranton
• 773 Lebanon
• 980 Harrisburg
• 982 Hazleton
• 1001 Levittown
• 1101 Reading
• 1153 Chester
• 1180 Drexel Hill
• 1231 Wilkes-Barre

Photo: WalletHub