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Place dossier plate
SheetPA-WILKES-BARRE-PA · Wilkes-Barre, PA 44,217 pop · income 17th pct · 101 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 Wilkes-Barre
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Wilkes-Barre on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
York · lowest
47,115
York · lowest
47,115 median HH income
35.7% of the leader · rank #1
Cunningham · near
47,969
Cunningham · near
47,969 median HH income
36.3% of the leader · rank #2
Corwin Springs · near
47,969
Corwin Springs · near
47,969 median HH income
36.3% of the leader · rank #3
Morrisville · near
47,969
Morrisville · near
47,969 median HH income
36.3% of the leader · rank #4
Taylortown · near
47,969
Taylortown · near
47,969 median HH income
36.3% of the leader · rank #5
Wilkes-Barre · this city
47,970
Wilkes-Barre · this city
47,970 median HH income
36.3% of the leader · rank #6
Oakley · highest
132,067
Oakley · highest
132,067 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 Wilkes-Barre 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: 44,217.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Wilkes-Barre - the verdict
Nationally, Wilkes-Barre sits in the 17th percentile for household income and the 32nd percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
17th
percentile, household income
12th
percentile, home value
54th
percentile, median rent
32nd
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: Wilkes-Barre, PA
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 44,217 residents in Wilkes-Barre, a small city within Pennsylvania. The typical household in Wilkes-Barre brings in $47,970 a year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 17.4%. Wilkes-Barre's housing stock carries a median value of $108,000, and the median resident age is 35.3 years. Educational attainment runs 19.4% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 53.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 6 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Building Boom), up 500% from five years earlier. Crime here tracks close to the national norm: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 1988.5 incidents per 100,000 residents, near the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). NOAA climate normals record an annual average temperature of 51.3°F with 38.7 inches of precipitation per year and 45.1 inches of snowfall.
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. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,225 per month statewide. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Pennsylvania run around $260, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. The average commute for Wilkes-Barre workers runs 18.5 minutes, with 70.4% driving alone and 7.4% working from home. 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 Wilkes-Barre'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 climate and hazard context to within-city variation to work and mobility to housing and income to schools and households to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Wilkes-Barre, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, annual population history, commute-mode shares, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
Which cities make useful reference points for Wilkes-Barre?
Within Pennsylvania, the closest population matches are York (44,830 residents, $47,115 income); Altoona (43,508 residents, $50,171 income); State College (40,669 residents, $47,132 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Concord, NH (44,219 residents); Salem, MA (44,241 residents); North Fort Myers, FL (44,189 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 Wilkes-Barre?
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 1988.5 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 13% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
What physical conditions frame life in Wilkes-Barre?
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 51.3°F, with 38.7 inches of precipitation and 45.1 inches of annual snowfall. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for Pennsylvania is 67.4 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
The two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
What can 101 Census tracts reveal inside Wilkes-Barre?
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 101 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.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Wilkes-Barre?
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 70.4%. The reported mean trip to work is 18.5 minutes.
Public transit
2.3%
Work from home
7.4%
Drive alone
70.4%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 19,162 workers age 16+.
How far does income reach against housing in Wilkes-Barre?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 2.3 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 17.4%, 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.
Household income
$47,970
Home value
$108,000
Value / income
2.3×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What does the education layer cover for Wilkes-Barre?
The NCES join finds 3 public schools within the city match. 19.4% 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+
19.4%
Poverty estimate
17.4%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Is Wilkes-Barre growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
The recent population line is broadly flat. That makes the composition of change more important than the headline count: housing turnover, household size, and age structure can shift even when the total barely moves.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +257 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +0.6% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 6 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
+0.6%
2025 estimate
44,523
2020 estimate
44,266
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Near national cost · BEA RPP 2024, Pennsylvania average
F
City profile score · Wilkes-Barre, PA
27/100
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 F
19.4%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime F
432 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Household income F
$47,970
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
17.4%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Wilkes-Barre profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 50/100 (C-) · 97.6 index
Bachelor's+ share: 33/100 (F) · 19.4%
Violent crime: 20/100 (F) · 432 /100k
Household income: 18/100 (F) · $47,970
Poverty rate: 18/100 (F) · 17.4%
Where Wilkes-Barre sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Wilkes-Barre'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 - Wilkes-Barre highlighted among 10 peers.Read the chart values
Wilkes-Barre, PA (this city): home $108,000, crime 1,989/100k
Concord, NH : home $323,700, crime 1,410/100k
Salem, MA : home $497,400, crime 1,706/100k
El Centro, CA : home $291,100, crime 1,596/100k
Oakley, CA : home $632,800, crime 1,113/100k
York, PA : home $103,100, crime 2,392/100k
Altoona, PA : home $113,600, crime 2,185/100k
State College, PA : home $414,400, crime 917/100k
Harrisburg, PA : home $121,000, crime 2,755/100k
Norristown, PA : home $205,100, crime 2,410/100k
How does Wilkes-Barre compare to other US cities?
Where Wilkes-Barre sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income17% higher than other cities
Home value12% pricier than other cities
Median rent54% pricier than other cities
Safety32% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just Pennsylvania and the picture shifts: Wilkes-Barre ranks #345 of 402 Pennsylvania cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Wilkes-Barre 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 Wilkes-Barre near the bottom of Pennsylvania's cities
Among the 1,865 Pennsylvania cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Wilkes-Barre ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Wilkes-Barre only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#1,533 of 1,765
13th percentile in Pennsylvania
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,865
0th percentile in Pennsylvania
Median Home Value
#1,417 of 1,790
21st percentile in Pennsylvania
Poverty Rate
#232 of 1,856
87th percentile in Pennsylvania
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#1,061 of 1,861
43rd 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
17th percentile nationally for median household income · 32nd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Wilkes-Barre's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Wilkes-Barre'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 Wilkes-Barre's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$108,000Among the most affordablemore affordable than 88% 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
Wilkes-Barre's home-value-to-income ratio: 2.3×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#2,712 of 15,516
More affordable than 83% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#180 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 2.3×, Wilkes-Barre sits in the affordable band:
national rank #2,712 of 15,516 and #180 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
$47,970Wilkes-Barre, PA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Wilkes-Barre, 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 Wilkes-Barre, PA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)19.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)17.4%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)53.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
44,217
Median Income
$47,970
Median Home Value
$108,000
Median Age
35.3
Poverty Rate
17.4%
Labor force participation
53.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
19.4%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1988.5
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
431.6
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1556.9
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.
Climate
Avg Temperature
51.3°F
Annual Precipitation
38.7"
Annual Snowfall
45.1"
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
Wilkes-Barre's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
44,266 residents
2021
44,333 residents
2022
44,259 residents
2023
44,363 residents
2024
44,454 residents
2025
44,523 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
6
housing units authorized
Single-Family
1
detached homes
Multifamily
5
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
1
1
0
$0.1M
2020
11
1
10
$1.6M
2021
2
2
0
$0.5M
2022
1
1
0
$0.1M
2023
3
3
0
$0.9M
2024
6
1
5
$2.0M
Permit volume increased 500% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
18.5 minutes
Drive Alone
70.4%
Carpool
11.3%
Public Transit
2.3%
Walk
6.5%
Work from Home
7.4%
Other
2.1%
Based on 19,162 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 Wilkes-Barre. 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 Wilkes-Barre 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 Wilkes-Barre sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Wilkes-Barre 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, NOAA Climate Normals, 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.