A house search that starts with "homes in North Allegheny School District" treats that phrase like an address. It isn't one. North Allegheny is a shared name for four separate local governments, and in at least one corner of the district, the same ZIP code can put two houses on the same road into two entirely different school systems. If you're comparing North Allegheny towns the way you'd compare two floor plans, you're missing the part of the transaction that actually varies.
One District Name, Four Town Halls
North Allegheny School District covers roughly 48 square miles across Bradford Woods Borough, Franklin Park Borough, Marshall Township, and the Town of McCandless. All four feed the same set of school buildings, 12 of them, serving 8,558 students in the 2025-26 school year. New development and families relocating into the area have kept enrollment steady for years.
Beyond the shared classrooms, the four towns run independently. Each has its own council or board, its own budget, and its own tax rate. Marshall Township, for instance, is a 15-square-mile community incorporated back in 1863 and named for Thomas Mercer Marshall, a well-known Allegheny County trial lawyer. It borders Cranberry Township across the Butler County line to the north, Pine Township to the east, and Franklin Park to the south. Thorn Hill Office Park has anchored local employment there for decades, and the township still carries traces of two historic Native American routes, the Venango Trail, which once ran from Pittsburgh north to Franklin, and the Kuskusky Path, which cuts south to north through the property of Marshall Elementary and Middle Schools.
That kind of local texture doesn't show up when a listing simply says "North Allegheny School District" in the header. It shows up when you drive the four towns and realize they don't feel like one place, because they aren't one place. They're four governments that happen to share a school board.
The ZIP Code That Splits Down the Middle
Here's where it gets genuinely tricky for a buyer working from an online search. Wexford, one of the most searched place names in this corridor, is not a municipality. It's a mailing address that spans parts of both Marshall Township and Pine Township. The 15090 ZIP code sits on both sides of that line. A Marshall Township address in 15090 is zoned for North Allegheny. A Pine Township address in the same ZIP code is zoned for Pine-Richland, a separate district that runs at roughly half of North Allegheny's enrollment and covers a smaller, more contained footprint. The boundary between them doesn't announce itself with a sign or a change in curb style. It's a line on a parcel map.
Widen the lens a bit further and Seneca Valley, across the county line in Butler County, is the largest school district in that county and serves Cranberry Township, which borders Marshall Township directly. None of this means one district is better than another. It means "Wexford" and "North Allegheny" are not interchangeable search terms, and if a listing's marketing copy uses one to imply the other, the only way to confirm your school district is to check the municipality on the parcel, not the ZIP code on the envelope.
What the Shared School District Doesn't Share: Tax Bills
All four North Allegheny municipalities pay into the same 19.74-mill school levy for the 2025-26 year. That part of your tax bill is identical whether you buy in Franklin Park or McCandless. What isn't identical is everything layered on top of it.
Allegheny County's realty transfer tax, paid once at closing, works out to roughly 2.0% of the sale price in Bradford Woods, Franklin Park, and Marshall Township. In McCandless, that same transfer tax runs closer to 2.5%. On top of that one-time cost, each town also sets its own annual municipal millage:
| Municipality | Realty Transfer Tax (total, before recording fees) | 2026 Municipal Millage |
|---|---|---|
| Bradford Woods | ~2.0% | not separately published in this comparison |
| Franklin Park | ~2.0% | 2.59 mills |
| Marshall Township | ~2.0% | 1.42 mills |
| McCandless | ~2.5% | 1.236 mills |
Look closely and the pattern breaks the story you'd expect. McCandless carries the highest closing-day tax bucket of the four, yet its own municipal millage, the part you pay every year for as long as you own the home, is the lowest of the three towns with published rates. Franklin Park sits at the opposite end: a lower transfer tax bucket at closing, but the highest annual municipal levy on this list, more than double McCandless's rate. Marshall Township lands in between on millage while sharing the lower transfer-tax bucket with Franklin Park.
In practice, that means the town that costs more to buy into can cost less to hold, and the town that's cheaper on day one can add up faster every year after. A buyer planning to stay ten or fifteen years is solving a different equation than a buyer who expects to move again in three. Comparing home prices alone tells you nothing about which of those equations you're actually working with, since these are both percentages and mill rates that scale with whatever price you land on, not flat fees.
One Town, Any Budget
It would be easy to assume the four towns also sort themselves by price, with one skewing entry-level and another skewing estate-sized. The current market inside a single town argues against that. As of early August 2026, active listings in Marshall Township alone span from a 4-bedroom, 2-bath home at 1,588 square feet listed at $299,900 to a new-construction 5-bedroom, 6-bath home at 4,994 square feet listed at $1,599,900.
That spread matters for the tax conversation, because the transfer tax percentage and the municipal millage apply no matter where you land in that range. A buyer at the $300,000 end and a buyer at the $1.6 million end in the same township are working from the same rate sheet. The town you choose sets the tax mechanics. The home you choose sets the number those mechanics get applied to. Neither answers the other question.
Why This Matters Beyond the Four Towns
If your search is really "which corridor north of Pittsburgh," not "which specific town," the same lesson applies one level up. North Allegheny, Pine-Richland, and Seneca Valley all sit within a few miles of each other, but they're three different taxing and administrative structures layered on top of three different sets of school buildings. A "Wexford" or "Cranberry" search that doesn't specify municipality can quietly cross all three without you noticing, the same way it crosses the Marshall Township and Pine Township line inside a single ZIP code.
None of this is a reason to avoid any of these towns. It's a reason to ask the specific question, municipality by municipality, before you fall in love with a listing photo.
Quick Answers for North Allegheny Buyers
Does buying in a different North Allegheny town change which school my child attends? Not at the district level. Bradford Woods, Franklin Park, Marshall Township, and McCandless all feed the same 12 school buildings serving North Allegheny's 8,558 students in 2025-26. Building-level assignment can still depend on your specific address within the district, so it's worth confirming with the school district directly once you have a target home in mind.
Is the McCandless transfer tax difference something I should actually worry about? It's worth running the number once you have a real target price, since it's a percentage of the sale price rather than a flat fee. It's also worth weighing against McCandless's lower municipal millage. One is a closing-day cost. The other is an annual one. Which matters more depends on how long you plan to stay.
How do I confirm a Wexford listing is actually zoned for North Allegheny? Check the municipality listed on the property record, not the ZIP code or the mailing city. Wexford addresses fall in both Marshall Township, which is North Allegheny, and Pine Township, which is Pine-Richland.
If you're weighing these four towns, or trying to figure out what a specific Wexford address actually means for your school district and your closing costs, that's exactly the kind of local groundwork Hope Harmotto and her team walk through with buyers every week. Schedule a consultation and bring your list of towns. We'll help you sort the mechanics from the marketing.
