Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.
Place dossier plate
SheetPA-WEST-CHESTER-PA · West Chester, PA 19,235 pop · income 63rd pct · 124 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 West Chester
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest West Chester on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Johnstown · lowest
34,784
Johnstown · lowest
34,784 median HH income
22.9% of the leader · rank #1
Monroe · near
81,488
Monroe · near
81,488 median HH income
53.6% of the leader · rank #2
West Chester · this city
81,492
West Chester · this city
81,492 median HH income
53.6% of the leader · rank #3
Nanakuli · near
81,493
Nanakuli · near
81,493 median HH income
53.6% of the leader · rank #4
Heritage Lake · near
81,495
Heritage Lake · near
81,495 median HH income
53.6% of the leader · rank #5
North Beach · near
81,500
North Beach · near
81,500 median HH income
53.6% of the leader · rank #6
Hermosa Beach · highest
152,019
Hermosa Beach · highest
152,019 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 West Chester 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: 19,235.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
West Chester - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, West Chester places in the 63rd percentile for household income and the 47th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
63rd
percentile, household income
84th
percentile, home value
54th
percentile, median rent
47th
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: West Chester, PA
19,235 people live in West Chester, Pennsylvania - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in West Chester report a median income of $81,492 per year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 9.7%. West Chester's housing stock carries a median value of $481,300, and the median resident age is 24.8 years. 60.1% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 63.4% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 2 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 96% from five years earlier. West Chester reports a comparatively low crime rate: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 1464.7 total incidents per 100,000 residents here, below the national average (agency reporting is voluntary, so this measures reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
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). A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,225 per month statewide. Monthly utility costs average around $260 across Pennsylvania, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. Commute times here average 18.6 minutes, with 63.6% driving alone and 14.9% working from home, per Census ACS commuting data. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 67.4 out of 100 (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of West Chester'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 reported crime to housing and income to within-city variation to population change to schools and households to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For West Chester, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares, within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history, local building permits.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
Which cities make useful reference points for West Chester?
Within Pennsylvania, the closest population matches are West Mifflin (19,338 residents, $70,335 income); Phoenixville (19,062 residents, $94,411 income); Lansdale (18,865 residents, $86,460 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Brookfield, IL (19,235 residents); Republic, MO (19,233 residents); Hermosa Beach, CA (19,248 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 can the FBI record say about safety in West Chester?
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 1464.7 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 36% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
How far does income reach against housing in West Chester?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 5.9 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 9.7%, 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. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
What can 124 Census tracts reveal inside West Chester?
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 124 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 West Chester 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 +924 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +4.9% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 2 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
+4.9%
2025 estimate
19,591
2020 estimate
18,667
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
What does the education layer cover for West Chester?
The NCES join finds 20 public schools within the city match. 60.1% 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 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
20
Bachelor's degree+
60.1%
Poverty estimate
9.7%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What does the journey to work look like in West Chester?
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 63.6%. The reported mean trip to work is 18.6 minutes.
Public transit
1.5%
Work from home
14.9%
Drive alone
63.6%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 10,796 workers age 16+.
Above median income · poverty 9.7% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
97.6 (US=100)
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Pennsylvania average
C
City profile score · West Chester, PA
56/100
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.
Bachelor's+ share A+
60.1%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income C+
$81,492
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 D
215 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Poverty rate D
9.7%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
West Chester profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 92/100 (A+) · 60.1%
Household income: 61/100 (C+) · $81,492
Cost of living: 50/100 (C-) · 97.6 index
Violent crime: 45/100 (D) · 215 /100k
Poverty rate: 41/100 (D) · 9.7%
Where West Chester sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
West Chester'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 - West Chester highlighted among 10 peers.Read the chart values
West Chester, PA (this city): home $481,300, crime 1,465/100k
Brookfield, IL : home $314,000, crime 737/100k
Republic, MO : home $190,300, crime 1,186/100k
Hermosa Beach, CA : home $2,000,000+, crime 2,851/100k
Lumberton, NC : home $140,100, crime 11,621/100k
West Mifflin, PA : home $131,400, crime 3,021/100k
Phoenixville, PA : home $348,200, crime 527/100k
Lansdale, PA : home $319,000, crime 1,104/100k
Johnstown, PA : home $42,100, crime 3,221/100k
Murrysville, PA : home $316,400, crime 256/100k
How does West Chester compare to other US cities?
Here's how West Chester stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income63% higher than other cities
Home value84% pricier than other cities
Median rent54% pricier than other cities
Safety47% 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, West Chester ranks #302 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 West Chester 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 West Chester near the bottom of Pennsylvania's cities
Among the 1,865 Pennsylvania cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, West Chester ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares West Chester only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#514 of 1,765
71st percentile in Pennsylvania
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,865
0th percentile in Pennsylvania
Median Home Value
#49 of 1,790
97th percentile in Pennsylvania
Poverty Rate
#568 of 1,856
69th percentile in Pennsylvania
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#94 of 1,861
95th 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
63rd percentile nationally for median household income · 47th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
West Chester's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
West Chester'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 West Chester's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$481,30016th percentilemore affordable than 16% 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
West Chester's home-value-to-income ratio: 5.9×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#14,032 of 15,516
More affordable than 10% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,945 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 5.9×, West Chester sits in the pressured band:
national rank #14,032 of 15,516 and #2,945 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median, a comparison flag, not a verdict on any household.
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
$81,492West Chester, PA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context West Chester, 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 West Chester, PA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)60.1%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)9.7%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)63.4%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
19,235
Median Income
$81,492
Median Home Value
$481,300
Median Age
24.8
Poverty Rate
9.7%
Labor force participation
63.4%
Bachelor's Degree+
60.1%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1464.7
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
215.0
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1249.8
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
20
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
West Chester's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
18,667 residents
2021
19,503 residents
2022
19,727 residents
2023
19,699 residents
2024
19,629 residents
2025
19,591 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
2
housing units authorized
Single-Family
2
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.1
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
46
46
0
$6.8M
2020
54
13
41
$9.4M
2021
0
0
0
-
2022
4
2
2
$0.5M
2023
4
4
0
$0.8M
2024
2
2
0
$5.7M
Permit volume decreased 96% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
18.6 minutes
Drive Alone
63.6%
Carpool
5.7%
Public Transit
1.5%
Walk
13.4%
Work from Home
14.9%
Other
0.9%
Based on 10,796 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 West Chester. 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 West Chester 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 West Chester sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How West Chester 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.