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Place dossier plate
SheetPA-MOUNT-GRETNA-HEIGHTS-PA · Mount Gretna Heights, PA 246 pop · income 85th pct
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 Mount Gretna Heights
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Mount Gretna Heights on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Jeddito · lowest
31,563
Jeddito · lowest
31,563 median HH income
27.3% of the leader · rank #1
Mount Gretna… · this city
115,625
Mount Gretna… · this city
115,625 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #2
Wilderness Rim · highest
115,625
Wilderness Rim · highest
115,625 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #3
Atkins · near
115,625
Atkins · near
115,625 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #4
Murray Hill · near
115,625
Murray Hill · near
115,625 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #5
Burlington Fl… · near
115,625
Burlington Fl… · near
115,625 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #6
Wixon Valley · near
115,625
Wixon Valley · near
115,625 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
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Mount Gretna Heights on ACS population and median household income
. 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: 246.
Mount Gretna Heights ranks in the 85th percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
85th
percentile, household income
73rd
percentile, home value
54th
percentile, median rent
📝 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: Mount Gretna Heights, PA
246 people live in Mount Gretna Heights, Pennsylvania - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Mount Gretna Heights households earn a median of $115,625 annually, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 0.0%. Mount Gretna Heights's housing stock carries a median value of $362,000, and the median resident age is 35.6 years. Educational attainment runs 63.2% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 53.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Pennsylvania tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Pennsylvania scores 97.6 (Near Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,225 per month. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Pennsylvania run around $260, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. The average commute for Mount Gretna Heights workers runs 18.8 minutes, with 57.0% driving alone and 43.0% working from home. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 67.4 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Mount Gretna Heights'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 work and mobility to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Mount Gretna Heights, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Which cities make useful reference points for Mount Gretna Heights?
Within Pennsylvania, the closest population matches are Aaronsburg CDP (Washington County) (246 residents); Arona (246 residents, $96,250 income); Markleysburg (246 residents, $79,688 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Fredonia, AL (246 residents); Weogufka, AL (246 residents); Jeddito, AZ (246 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Mount Gretna Heights?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. Remote work has a visible role in the local pattern. That can reduce commute exposure for some workers, but it says nothing about job availability or broadband quality; read it alongside income and housing rather than as a stand-alone lifestyle score.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 57.0%. The reported mean trip to work is 18.8 minutes.
How far does income reach against housing in Mount Gretna Heights?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.1 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 0.0%, 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.
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Pennsylvania average
A-
City profile score · Mount Gretna Heights, PA
81/100
4 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.
Poverty rate A+
0.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share A+
63.2%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income A-
$115,625
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
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.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Mount Gretna Heights profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 100/100 (A+) · 0.0%
Bachelor's+ share: 94/100 (A+) · 63.2%
Household income: 84/100 (A-) · $115,625
Cost of living: 50/100 (C-) · 97.6 index
How does Mount Gretna Heights compare to other US cities?
Here's how Mount Gretna Heights stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income85% higher than other cities
Home value73% pricier than other cities
Median rent54% pricier than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Mount Gretna Heights 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 Mount Gretna Heights near the bottom of Pennsylvania's cities
Among the 1,865 Pennsylvania cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Mount Gretna Heights ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Mount Gretna Heights only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#138 of 1,765
92nd percentile in Pennsylvania
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,865
0th percentile in Pennsylvania
Median Home Value
#128 of 1,790
93rd percentile in Pennsylvania
Poverty Rate
#1,474 of 1,856
0th percentile in Pennsylvania
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#78 of 1,861
96th 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
85th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Mount Gretna Heights's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$362,00027th percentilemore affordable than 27% 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
Mount Gretna Heights's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.1×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#7,345 of 15,516
More affordable than 53% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#6,109 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.1×, Mount Gretna Heights sits in the moderate band:
national rank #7,345 of 15,516 and #6,109 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
$115,625Mount Gretna Heights, PA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Mount Gretna Heights, 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 Mount Gretna Heights, PA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)63.2%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)0.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)53.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
246
Median Income
$115,625
Median Home Value
$362,000
Median Age
35.6
Poverty Rate
0.0%
Labor force participation
53.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
63.2%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
18.8 minutes
Drive Alone
57.0%
Carpool
0.0%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
43.0%
Based on 93 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 Mount Gretna Heights. 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 Mount Gretna Heights 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 Mount Gretna Heights sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Mount Gretna Heights 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, 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.