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Place dossier plate
SheetPA-NEW-BRIGHTON-PA · New Brighton, PA 5,600 pop · income 20th 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 New Brighton
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest New Brighton on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Dundee · lowest
41,550
Dundee · lowest
41,550 median HH income
20.7% of the leader · rank #1
New Brighton · this city
50,426
New Brighton · this city
50,426 median HH income
25.1% of the leader · rank #2
Owensville · near
50,428
Owensville · near
50,428 median HH income
25.1% of the leader · rank #3
St. John · near
50,429
St. John · near
50,429 median HH income
25.1% of the leader · rank #4
Mancelona · near
50,430
Mancelona · near
50,430 median HH income
25.1% of the leader · rank #5
Burnett · near
50,433
Burnett · near
50,433 median HH income
25.1% of the leader · rank #6
Moorefield · highest
200,754
Moorefield · highest
200,754 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 New Brighton 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: 5,600.
New Brighton ranks in the 20th percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
20th
percentile, household income
11th
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: New Brighton, PA
5,600 people live in New Brighton, Pennsylvania - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. New Brighton households earn a median of $50,426 annually, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 9.9%. Typical homes in New Brighton are valued around $104,100, and the median resident age is 38.9 years. Educational attainment runs 16.8% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 56.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 0 residential units authorized here in 2024 (No Permits).
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. Workers in New Brighton report an average commute of 25.0 minutes, with 72.1% driving alone and 9.0% working from home. 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 New Brighton'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 population change to housing and income to work and mobility to schools and households to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For New Brighton, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, commute-mode shares, annual population history, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Population change
Is New Brighton growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Recent estimates point downward. A falling count can reflect migration, household size, annexation boundaries, or estimation noise, so it is a prompt to inspect the full series rather than a claim about local economic health.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -140 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -2.5% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 0 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
How far does income reach against housing in New Brighton?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.1 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 9.9%, 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. The ratio makes housing the clearest place to start this profile, but a low multiple can coexist with slow demand, older stock, or household-level hardship. Compare the home-value distribution and same-state peer table before treating it as an advantage.
What does the journey to work look like in New Brighton?
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 72.1%. The reported mean trip to work is 25.0 minutes.
Which cities make useful reference points for New Brighton?
Within Pennsylvania, the closest population matches are Hollidaysburg (5,581 residents, $62,319 income); Palmerton (5,624 residents, $71,471 income); Wyndmoor (5,567 residents, $142,583 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Bellevue, KY (5,598 residents); Scituate, MA (5,602 residents); Moorefield, VA (5,598 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.
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.
Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for New Brighton?
The NCES join finds 3 public schools within the city match. 16.8% 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 city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
Matched public schools
3
Bachelor's degree+
16.8%
Poverty estimate
9.9%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Pennsylvania average
F
City profile score · New Brighton, PA
34/100
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.
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.
Poverty rate D
9.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
16.8%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$50,426
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
New Brighton profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 50/100 (C-) · 97.6 index
Poverty rate: 40/100 (D) · 9.9%
Bachelor's+ share: 25/100 (F) · 16.8%
Household income: 21/100 (F) · $50,426
How does New Brighton compare to other US cities?
New Brighton measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income20% higher than other cities
Home value11% 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 New Brighton 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 New Brighton near the bottom of Pennsylvania's cities
Among the 1,865 Pennsylvania cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, New Brighton ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares New Brighton only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#1,452 of 1,765
18th percentile in Pennsylvania
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,865
0th percentile in Pennsylvania
Median Home Value
#1,463 of 1,790
18th percentile in Pennsylvania
Poverty Rate
#556 of 1,856
70th percentile in Pennsylvania
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#1,222 of 1,861
34th 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
20th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How New Brighton's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$104,100Among the most affordablemore affordable than 89% 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
New Brighton's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.1×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#1,878 of 15,516
More affordable than 88% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,787 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 2.1×, New Brighton sits in the affordable band:
national rank #1,878 of 15,516 and #1,787 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
The multiple is comparatively compact among tracked cities, but a low ratio can still coexist with slow demand or household-level hardship.
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
$50,426New Brighton, PA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context New Brighton, 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 New Brighton, PA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)16.8%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)9.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)56.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
5,600
Median Income
$50,426
Median Home Value
$104,100
Median Age
38.9
Poverty Rate
9.9%
Labor force participation
56.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
16.8%
Schools
Total Schools
3
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
New Brighton's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
5,643 residents
2021
5,604 residents
2022
5,552 residents
2023
5,531 residents
2024
5,514 residents
2025
5,503 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
Total Permits (2024)
0
housing units authorized
Single-Family
0
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
0
0
0
-
2020
4
4
0
$0.4M
2021
3
3
0
$0.5M
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
1
1
0
$0.1M
2024
0
0
0
-
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
25.0 minutes
Drive Alone
72.1%
Carpool
10.6%
Public Transit
2.8%
Walk
3.4%
Work from Home
9.0%
Other
2.1%
Based on 2,567 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 New Brighton. 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 New Brighton 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 New Brighton sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How New Brighton 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, 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.