Living in Clarks Summit, PA — The Heart of the Abingtons

Fifteen minutes north of downtown Scranton, Clarks Summit is the flagship of “the Abingtons” — and Niche currently rates it the #1 Best Place to Live in Lackawanna County (Niche, 2026). It’s the kind of town where the commercial district is an actual walkable main street, the annual festival involves 60-plus hand-carved ice sculptures, and the school district is the county’s top-rated.

There’s also a commuting fact most out-of-towners don’t know: the northern end of the Pennsylvania Turnpike’s Northeast Extension (I-476) is at Clarks Summit. That means a straight turnpike run toward Allentown and Philadelphia starts here, and I-81 and US-6/11 are minutes away.

Food & Drink

• State Street Grill — currently ranked #1 of 41 Clarks Summit restaurants on Tripadvisor; seasonal New American menu, Sunday brunch and a patio bar.
• Abbiocco — Italian comfort food, BYOB with no corkage fee, and a pet-friendly deck.
• Camelot Restaurant & Inn — a longtime favorite just off I-81 at Waverly.
• Formosa — Asian fusion built on house-made sauces, a staple on South State Street.
• Manning Farm Dairy — ice cream made with milk from the Manning family’s own farm in Dalton. Cash only, worth it.

Things to Do

The Clarks Summit Festival of Ice — in its 22nd year in 2026 — fills downtown with more than 60 hand-carved ice sculptures, a parade and carriage rides, all free. The Gathering Place runs community arts and education programming downtown, and the century-old Waverly Community House (“The Comm”) next door hosts summer concerts, camps and youth programs. Everything in Scranton — Broadway tours, RailRiders baseball, Montage Mountain — is 15 minutes away.

Outdoors & Parks

Lackawanna State Park is about six miles north: 1,445 acres around a 198-acre lake, with a seasonal pool, campground, boating and mountain-bike trails. Hillside Park in neighboring South Abington Township packs a fishing lake with accessible piers, a dog park, a community garden, a Boundless Playground and seasonal ice skating into 100 acres.

Gyms & Fitness

The Training Loft offers personal training, bootcamps and a smoothie bar in town; the Greater Scranton YMCA runs group exercise at the Hillside Community Center; and full-service gyms in the Scranton/Dickson City corridor are 10 to 15 minutes away.

Schools

This is the headline. Clarks Summit is served by the Abington Heights School District — Niche grade A-, the top-rated public district in Lackawanna County, with about 3,400 students and a 17:1 student-teacher ratio. The middle school carries an A, the high school an A-, and Clarks Summit Elementary a B+ (Niche, 2026). Scranton’s four colleges and its medical school are within 20 minutes.

School Performance

State assessment results for the high school serving Clarks Summit, from the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s Future Ready PA Index, 2024–25 school year:

• Abington Heights High School — Keystone Literature 87.5% proficient or advanced (statewide 49.9%) · Keystone Algebra I 67.5% (statewide 41.7%) · four-year graduation rate 94.7% (statewide 88.0%)

Source: Pennsylvania Department of Education, Future Ready PA Index, 2024–25. We publish these same three measures, from this same source, on every community page in this guide.

Everyday Essentials

State Street’s boutiques and family-owned shops anchor downtown; Gerrity’s Fresh Grocer at Summit Square and Weis Markets handle groceries; the Viewmont Mall retail corridor is about 10 minutes away. Geisinger Community Medical Center in Scranton — the county’s only Level II trauma center — is roughly 15 minutes.

The Homes

Established, tree-lined streets in the borough itself, with larger lots and newer construction spread through the surrounding Abingtons — South Abington, Newton and Waverly townships. Most homes here are owner-occupied, and inventory moves quickly; well-priced listings in Abington Heights rarely wait around.