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Place dossier plate
SheetPA-LOCK-HAVEN-PA · Lock Haven, PA 8,386 pop · income 8th pct · 10 tracts
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Lock Haven
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Lock Haven on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Atmore · lowest
33,104
Atmore · lowest
33,104 median HH income
13.2% of the leader · rank #1
Florence · near
40,125
Florence · near
40,125 median HH income
16.0% of the leader · rank #2
Mellen · near
40,125
Mellen · near
40,125 median HH income
16.0% of the leader · rank #3
Lock Haven · this city
40,131
Lock Haven · this city
40,131 median HH income
16.1% of the leader · rank #4
Halfway · near
40,139
Halfway · near
40,139 median HH income
16.1% of the leader · rank #5
Branchville · near
40,144
Branchville · near
40,144 median HH income
16.1% of the leader · rank #6
Villanova · highest
250,001
Villanova · highest
250,001 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Lock Haven on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 8,386.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Lock Haven - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Lock Haven lands in the 8th percentile for household income and the 37th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
8th
percentile, household income
20th
percentile, home value
54th
percentile, median rent
37th
percentile, safety
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Lock Haven, PA
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 8,386 residents in Lock Haven, a small town within Pennsylvania. Lock Haven households earn a median of $40,131 annually, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 14.0%. Typical homes in Lock Haven are valued around $127,500, and the median resident age is 26.6 years. Educational attainment runs 24.1% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 54.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 4 residential building permits were authorized in Lock Haven (Building Boom), up 300% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Lock Haven reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR figures show 1816.9 crimes per 100,000 residents, below the national average (reporting is voluntary across agencies, so treat this as reporting activity rather than a definitive danger score).
Pennsylvania tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: the state registers 97.6 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Near Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,225 per month statewide. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Pennsylvania's average monthly utility costs around $260 (state average). Natural-hazard exposure scores 67.4 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Lock Haven's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from comparison shortlist to schools and households to work and mobility to population change to within-city variation to housing and income to reported crime; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Lock Haven, city-specific coverage includes within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, local building permits, commute-mode shares, annual population history.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
Which cities make useful reference points for Lock Haven?
Within Pennsylvania, the closest population matches are Parkville (8,354 residents, $74,509 income); Pleasant Hills (8,418 residents, $97,177 income); Villanova (8,431 residents, $250,000+ income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Atmore, AL (8,389 residents); Gilberts, IL (8,389 residents); Crete, IL (8,382 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
What does the education layer cover for Lock Haven?
The NCES join finds 2 public schools within the city match. 24.1% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
The matched institution count is small, so district boundaries and schools outside the city line may matter more than the municipal count suggests. Use the number as a coverage cue, then verify attendance zones with the district before making a household decision.
What does the journey to work look like in Lock Haven?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 68.0%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
What can 10 Census tracts reveal inside Lock Haven?
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
PlainCities matches 10 Census tracts to this city.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Population change
Is Lock Haven growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +406 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +5.0% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 4 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Period change
+5.0%
2025 estimate
8,500
2020 estimate
8,094
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
How far does income reach against housing in Lock Haven?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 14.0%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
Household income
$40,131
Home value
$127,500
Value / income
3.2×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Lock Haven?
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1816.9 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 20% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
1537.4
Violent rate
279.5
Total reported rate
1816.9
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 14.0% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
97.6 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Pennsylvania average
F
City profile score · Lock Haven, PA
31/100
5 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Cost of living C-
97.6 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Bachelor's+ share D
24.1%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime F
280 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Poverty rate F
14.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$40,131
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Lock Haven profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 50/100 (C-) · 97.6 index
Bachelor's+ share: 46/100 (D) · 24.1%
Violent crime: 36/100 (F) · 280 /100k
Poverty rate: 24/100 (F) · 14.0%
Household income: 7/100 (F) · $40,131
Where Lock Haven sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Lock Haven's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Lock Haven highlighted among 9 peers.Read the chart values
Lock Haven, PA (this city): home $127,500, crime 1,817/100k
Atmore, AL : home $128,900, crime 4,955/100k
Gilberts, IL : home $330,100, crime 247/100k
Crete, IL : home $209,100, crime 1,075/100k
Westwego, LA : home $168,600, crime 2,518/100k
Dayton, MN : home $510,600, crime 435/100k
Winnemucca, NV : home $290,500, crime 2,020/100k
Pleasant Hills, PA : home $235,500, crime 1,197/100k
Mount Joy, PA : home $241,300, crime 431/100k
How does Lock Haven compare to other US cities?
Where Lock Haven sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income8% higher than other cities
Home value20% pricier than other cities
Median rent54% pricier than other cities
Safety37% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to Pennsylvania alone, Lock Haven ranks #338 of 402 Pennsylvania cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Lock Haven against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Pennsylvania only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Pennsylvania-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Lock Haven near the bottom of Pennsylvania's cities
Among the 1,865 Pennsylvania cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Lock Haven ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Lock Haven only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#1,686 of 1,765
4th percentile in Pennsylvania
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,865
0th percentile in Pennsylvania
Median Home Value
#1,234 of 1,790
31st percentile in Pennsylvania
Poverty Rate
#361 of 1,856
80th percentile in Pennsylvania
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#796 of 1,861
57th percentile in Pennsylvania
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Pennsylvania only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
8th percentile nationally for median household income · 37th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Lock Haven's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Lock Haven's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Lock Haven's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$127,500Among the most affordablemore affordable than 80% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Lock Haven's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#7,578 of 15,516
More affordable than 51% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#6,273 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.2×, Lock Haven sits in the moderate band:
national rank #7,578 of 15,516 and #6,273 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$40,131Lock Haven, PA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Lock Haven, PA median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Lock Haven, PA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)24.1%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)14.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)54.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
8,386
Median Income
$40,131
Median Home Value
$127,500
Median Age
26.6
Poverty Rate
14.0%
Labor force participation
54.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
24.1%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1816.9
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
279.5
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1537.4
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Schools
Total Schools
2
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Lock Haven's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
8,094 residents
2021
8,587 residents
2022
8,507 residents
2023
8,508 residents
2024
8,498 residents
2025
8,500 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
4
housing units authorized
Single-Family
2
detached homes
Multifamily
2
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.5
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
1
1
0
$0.2M
2020
1
1
0
$0.2M
2021
0
0
0
-
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
1
1
0
$0.3M
2024
4
2
2
$0.6M
Permit volume increased 300% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
68.0%
Carpool
8.4%
Public Transit
0.1%
Walk
12.4%
Work from Home
8.1%
Other
3.0%
Based on 3,594 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Pennsylvania statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $260
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Pennsylvania at $260 (electricity about $120 , water and sewer about $52 ).
These are Pennsylvania statewide averages, not a meter reading for Lock Haven. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Pennsylvania's BEA cost-of-living index is 97.6 (Near Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Lock Haven is $1,225/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Pennsylvania statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 67.4 / 100 (Moderate).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Pennsylvania statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Lock Haven sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Lock Haven compares to similar-size Pennsylvania cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, FBI UCR, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.