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Place dossier plate
SheetPA-ST-MARYS-PA · St. Marys, PA 12,612 pop · income 42nd pct · 9 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 St. Marys
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest St. Marys on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Gaffney · lowest
41,214
Gaffney · lowest
41,214 median HH income
35.1% of the leader · rank #1
Carrollton · near
64,464
Carrollton · near
64,464 median HH income
54.9% of the leader · rank #2
Valley Park · near
64,470
Valley Park · near
64,470 median HH income
54.9% of the leader · rank #3
St. Marys · this city
64,471
St. Marys · this city
64,471 median HH income
54.9% of the leader · rank #4
Hicksville · near
64,473
Hicksville · near
64,473 median HH income
54.9% of the leader · rank #5
Attica · near
64,474
Attica · near
64,474 median HH income
54.9% of the leader · rank #6
Jefferson Hil… · highest
117,518
Jefferson Hil… · highest
117,518 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 St. Marys 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: 12,612.
St. Marys ranks in the 42nd percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
42nd
percentile, household income
25th
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: St. Marys, PA
Pennsylvania's St. Marys is a small town, with 12,612 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Households in St. Marys report a median income of $64,471 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 3.1%. Home values in St. Marys run a median of $143,900, and the median resident age is 50.3 years. 20.5% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 58.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 13 residential building permits were authorized in St. Marys (Rapid Growth), up 30% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data.
Pennsylvania tracks close to the national cost-of-living baseline: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Pennsylvania at 97.6 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Near Average). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,225 per month. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Pennsylvania's average monthly utility costs around $260 (state average). 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 St. Marys'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 housing and income to work and mobility to comparison shortlist to within-city variation to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For St. Marys, city-specific coverage includes within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits, annual population history, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
How far does income reach against housing in St. Marys?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 3.1%, 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 St. Marys?
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 82.0%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Which cities make useful reference points for St. Marys?
Within Pennsylvania, the closest population matches are Meadville (12,723 residents, $46,012 income); Bloomsburg (12,906 residents, $49,096 income); Jefferson Hills (12,313 residents, $117,518 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Gaffney, SC (12,612 residents); Fulton, MO (12,611 residents); Boiling Springs, SC (12,609 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.
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.
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 St. Marys 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 -461 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -3.6% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 13 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
-3.6%
2025 estimate
12,253
2020 estimate
12,714
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Pennsylvania average
C-
City profile score · St. Marys, PA
52/100
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 B+
3.1%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
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.
Household income D
$64,471
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
20.5%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
St. Marys profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 78/100 (B+) · 3.1%
Cost of living: 50/100 (C-) · 97.6 index
Household income: 41/100 (D) · $64,471
Bachelor's+ share: 36/100 (F) · 20.5%
How does St. Marys compare to other US cities?
St. Marys measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income42% higher than other cities
Home value25% 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 St. Marys 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 St. Marys near the bottom of Pennsylvania's cities
Among the 1,865 Pennsylvania cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, St. Marys ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares St. Marys only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#961 of 1,765
46th percentile in Pennsylvania
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,865
0th percentile in Pennsylvania
Median Home Value
#1,107 of 1,790
38th percentile in Pennsylvania
Poverty Rate
#1,200 of 1,856
35th percentile in Pennsylvania
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#998 of 1,861
46th 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
42nd percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How St. Marys's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$143,900Among the most affordablemore affordable than 75% 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
St. Marys's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#2,621 of 15,516
More affordable than 83% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#167 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 2.2×, St. Marys sits in the affordable band:
national rank #2,621 of 15,516 and #167 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
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
$64,471St. Marys, PA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context St. Marys, 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 St. Marys, PA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)20.5%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)3.1%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)58.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
12,612
Median Income
$64,471
Median Home Value
$143,900
Median Age
50.3
Poverty Rate
3.1%
Labor force participation
58.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
20.5%
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
St. Marys's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
12,714 residents
2021
12,645 residents
2022
12,498 residents
2023
12,385 residents
2024
12,321 residents
2025
12,253 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Rapid Growth
Total Permits (2024)
13
housing units authorized
Single-Family
9
detached homes
Multifamily
4
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
1
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
10
10
0
$2.4M
2020
3
3
0
$0.9M
2021
4
4
0
$1.3M
2022
7
7
0
$1.5M
2023
6
6
0
$1.1M
2024
13
9
4
$2.6M
Permit volume increased 30% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
82.0%
Carpool
11.6%
Public Transit
0.3%
Walk
2.0%
Work from Home
1.2%
Other
2.9%
Based on 6,077 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 St. Marys. 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 St. Marys 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 St. Marys sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How St. Marys 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 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.