Living in Dallas, PA — The Pride of the Back Mountain

Twenty minutes up the Cross Valley Expressway from Wilkes-Barre, the valley gives way to the Back Mountain — rolling highlands of farms, lakes and larger lots — and Dallas is its hub. The borough calls itself “the Pride of the Back Mountain,” and the numbers back the pride: the Dallas School District is rated B+ by Niche and ranked the #2 school district in the entire Scranton area (Niche, 2026), and homes here command the strongest values in the Wyoming Valley market because people simply don’t want to leave.

Misericordia University’s 125-acre campus is in town, Harveys Lake is minutes away, and a working nonprofit dairy farm doubles as the region’s favorite ice cream stop.

Food & Drink

• The Beaumont Inn — the Back Mountain’s fine-dining anchor: a historic inn on 50 acres along Route 309, serving farm-to-table dinners since 1948.
• Fire and Ice on Toby Creek — casual-upscale American dining in Trucksville.
• Leggio’s Italian Restaurant — pasta, seafood and pizza at Center Hill Road.
• KB’s Coffee House — coffee and brunch in a 1920s front-porch colonial in Shavertown.
• Drip Coffee Co. — handcrafted espresso with a drive-thru, proudly brewing La Colombe.
• The Farmstand — bakery, cafe and mercantile in Shavertown.
• The Lands at Hillside Farms Dairy Store — ice cream made from the farm’s own “Hillside Gold” milk. Roughly 22,000 half-gallons a year leave this counter.

Things to Do

The Luzerne County Fair — a tradition of more than 60 years — takes over the Route 118 fairgrounds every September with rides, livestock and grandstand entertainment, and the Dallas Harvest Festival follows with 50-plus vendors and pumpkin picking. The Lands at Hillside Farms, a 400-acre nonprofit educational dairy farm, welcomes visitors to see the cows, horses, goats and alpacas free of charge. Misericordia University adds Division III athletics and arts programming, and Harveys Lake — Pennsylvania’s largest natural lake by volume — is a ten-minute drive for boating and lakeside dinners.

Outdoors & Parks

Frances Slocum State Park is five miles away: a 165-acre horseshoe lake for kayaking and fishing, hiking and mountain-bike trails, and a campground. The Back Mountain Trail rail-trail serves walkers and cyclists, and Ricketts Glen’s famous waterfalls are within a countryside drive.

Gyms & Fitness

Danko’s All American Fitness on Twin Stacks Drive (doors open at 4 a.m. weekdays), Anytime Fitness with 24/7 access, Fame Strength on Route 309, and Move Better, a training-and-nutrition studio.

Schools

The Dallas School District is the Back Mountain’s calling card: Niche B+, ranked #2 among Scranton-area school districts, roughly 2,400 students at a 16:1 ratio, with Dallas Elementary rated A- (Niche, 2026). State test proficiency runs 54% math and 70% reading. Misericordia University offers four-year degrees in town. Neighboring Lake-Lehman School District serves several surrounding townships.

School Performance

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

• Dallas Senior High School — Keystone Literature 61.8% proficient or advanced (statewide 49.9%) · Keystone Algebra I 46.1% (statewide 41.7%) · four-year graduation rate 96.5% (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

Two Weis Markets serve the Dallas–Shavertown corridor, Memorial Highway is the retail spine, and Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center is about ten miles down the expressway.

The Homes

Larger lots, established neighborhoods, farmettes and custom builds — with listings historically ranging from starter prices to multi-million-dollar estates. Dallas consistently carries the strongest values in the Wyoming Valley market, and inventory inside the school district is chronically tight. Serious buyers watch it daily.