Pennsylvania Population and Demographics

In this article, we'll explore the population statistics for Pennsylvania, including popular demographics data like median age, number of households, household income, gender, employment and unemployment rates, occupations, religion, and more.

We are using the latest American Community Survey (ACS) 5-Year survey data from the US Census Bureau, which is accurate up to 2021.

Table of Contents

Population

There is a lot of data that lets us see how many people live in Pennsylvania. The most basic data is the total population, which is the total number of people living in Pennsylvania. The estimated population of Pennsylvania is 12,970,650 people, with a median age of 40.8.

We can look at the total population in Pennsylvania over the last 5 years to see how much it has changed.

Year Population Change 5-Year Change
2021
12,970,650
+1.37%
+1.41%
2020
12,794,885
+0.03%
-
2019
12,791,530
 0% -
2018
12,791,181
+0.01%
-
2017
12,790,505
 - -

Population of Pennsylvania by Race and Ethnicity

We can also look at how the population has changed over the last 5 years by each of the race/ethnicity types as defined by the US Census Bureau.

Race 2021 2017 Change
White
75%
77.3%
 -2.98%
Black/African American
10.5%
10.6%
 -0.94%
Native
0.1%
0.1%
 0.00%
Hispanic
7.9%
6.8%
 +16.18%
Asian
3.5%
3.2%
 +9.38%
Hawaiian/Pacific Islander
0%
0%
 0.00%
Two Or More Races
2.7%
1.8%
 +50.00%
Other
0.3%
0.2%
 +50.00%

This data can be very important for a number of reasons, including social and economic research, planning and development, and marketing to a multi-cultural population.

Note that the Native group includes both Native American and Alaskan Native people.

Population of Pennsylvania by Age and Gender

The age and gender of a population is another interesting demographic statistic because it lets us track trends in the population over time. For example, we can see how the population has changed over the last 5 years by median age as a total, and also by male and female.

Year Total Male Female
2021 40.8 -0.24% 39.5 +0.51% 42.2 -0.71%
2020 40.9 +0.25% 39.3 +0.51% 42.5 +0.24%
2019 40.8 +0.25% 39.1 0% 42.4 0%
2018 40.7 0% 39.1 +0.26% 42.4 +0.24%
2017 40.7 - 39 - 42.3 -

The median age of Pennsylvania gives you an idea of the age distribution, with half of the population being older than the median age and half being younger.

This can then be used to infer and compare against birth rates, parent ages, and more metrics to understand the population. For example, an increasing median age indicates an aging population, which can be a sign of a declining population in terms of birth rates and workforce participation.

Age 2021 2017
(Years) Male Female Male Female
0 to 9 738,907 -1% 709,323 -0.92% 731,467 702,729
10 to 19 818,235 +1.69% 779,367 +1.25% 831,794 788,909
20 to 29 869,696 -3.55% 840,710 -3.23% 839,163 813,895
30 to 39 773,299 +8.1% 762,434 +6.99% 837,702 817,008
40 to 49 796,552 -2.7% 812,702 -5.15% 774,808 771,518
50 to 59 911,655 -3.13% 950,571 -5.31% 883,141 901,067
60 to 69 738,283 +10.6% 801,814 +8.37% 819,566 870,954
70+ 613,533 +9.91% 873,424 +4.2% 676,576 910,353

Median Household Income

The latest median household income of Pennsylvania is $67,587.00.

In simple terms, the median income is the middle income of a group of people. Half of the people in the group make more than the median income, and half make less. The median income is a good indicator of the overall income of a group of people, and can be used to compare against other metrics such as the average income, per capita income, and more.

Median Income by Age

We can also look at the median income by age to see how the median income varies by age, and how it compares to the overall median income for Pennsylvania.

  • Under 25
    $35,924.00
  • 25 to 44
    $77,704.00
  • 45 to 64
    $82,539.00
  • 65 and over
    $47,153.00

Average Household Income

Whenever we ask what is the average household income in Pennsylvania, we are actually talking about the mean household income.

This is calculated by adding up all the incomes of all the households in Pennsylvania, and then dividing that number by the total number of households. This is a good way to get a general idea of the average income of a group of people, but it can be skewed by a very high or very low incomes.

The average household income of Pennsylvania is currently $92,849.00.

In terms of accurately summarizing income at a geographic level, the median income is a better metric than the average income because it isn't affected by a small number of very high or very low incomes.

If you had an area where the average income was greater than the median, it can mean that there is significant income inequality, with income being concentrated in a small number of wealthy households.

8.37% of households in Pennsylvania are classed as high income households (making $200,000+ per year).

Household Income Tiers

The US Census Bureau divides households into income tiers based on the median income for the area. This is a good way to compare the income of Pennsylvania against other areas.

  • Less than $24,999
    17.51%
  • $25,000 to $49,999
    20.00%
  • $50,000 to $74,999
    17.08%
  • $75,000 to $99,999
    13.20%
  • $100,000 to $149,999
    16.43%
  • $150,000 to $199,999
    7.40%
  • $200,000 or more
    8.37%

Per Capita Income

The per capita income in Pennsylvania is $37,725.00.

Per capita income is the average income of a person in a given area. It is calculated by dividing the total income of Pennsylvania by the total population of Pennsylvania.

This is different from the average or mean income because it includes and accounts for all people in Pennsylvania, including people like children, the elderly, unemployed people, retired people, and more.

Education Levels

We can also look at the education levels in Pennsylvania to see how many people have a high school degree, a bachelor's degree, or a graduate degree.

Educational attainment is a good indicator of the overall education level of a population, and can be used to compare against other metrics such as the average income, per capita income, and more to see how education levels affect income, unemployment rates, and more.

  • Master's degree or higher
    14.26%
  • Bachelor's degree
    30.06%
  • Some college or associate's degree
    8.27%
  • High school diploma or equivalent
    45.22%
  • Less than high school diploma
    2.19%

Employment

Employment rates are all based around the total population in Pennsylvania that are over the age of 16.

The total population of Pennsylvania over the age of 16 is 10,587,037.

Of those people, a total of 63.00% are working or actively looking for work. This is called the labor force participation rate.

The participation rate is a useful market measure because it shows the relative amount of labor resources available to the economy.

The employment to total population rate in Pennsylvania is 59.50%.

Employment by Age

We can look at the employment rates by age to see how it compares to the overall employment rate.

Age Population Participation Unemployment Rate
16 to 19 years 671,286 41.70% 15.30%
20 to 24 years 804,254 73.60% 9.90%
25 to 29 years 848,804 84.60% 6.10%
30 to 34 years 852,294 84.70% 5.70%
35 to 44 years 1,558,578 84.00% 4.60%
45 to 54 years 1,650,190 82.20% 3.90%
55 to 59 years 924,182 75.40% 4.10%
60 to 64 years 915,659 60.10% 3.80%
65 to 74 years 1,374,891 27.60% 4.40%
75 years and over 986,899 7.10% 4.40%

Employment by Race

Another very interesting employment statistic we can look at is the employment and unemployment rates by race in Pennsylvania. The table below shows the rates for each of the ethnicity groups types defined by the US Census Bureau.

Age Population Participation Unemployment Rate
White 8,488,267 63.00% 4.60%
Black or African American 1,105,852 61.10% 11.10%
American Indian and Alaska Native 15,450 60.30% 11.00%
Asian 372,984 65.90% 4.60%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 3,694 61.40% 9.40%
Other 255,925 61.80% 7.70%
Two or more races 344,865 68.40% 8.90%
Hispanic or Latino 708,684 65.90% 8.30%
Not Hispanic or Latino 8,196,121 62.80% 4.50%

Occupations

In this section we can look at the most common occupations in Pennsylvania as well as the gender breakdown and earnings of them.

The total population of civilian employees that are 16 years old or older in Pennsylvania is 6,295,594, with median earnings of $42,921.00.

Women in Pennsylvania earning approximately 69.50% of the men's earnings.

Population Earnings
Total 6,295,594 $42,921.00
Male 3,278,110 $51,135.00
Female 3,017,484 $35,517.00

Occupations by Category

In the table below, we can break down the population and earnings even further by occupation. The list of occupation categories below will show you how many people are employed in each category and the median earnings of each profession.

Occupation Employed Earnings
Management 644,265 $76,624.00
Business and Financial 363,382 $67,652.00
Computer and Mathematical 198,153 $80,905.00
Architecture and Engineering 122,245 $81,287.00
Life, Physical, and Social Science 72,728 $66,174.00
Community and Social Service 134,493 $43,893.00
Legal 71,540 $82,733.00
Educational and Library 383,086 $50,650.00
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media 108,204 $41,261.00
Healthcare Practitioners 460,177 $63,106.00
Healthcare Support 239,074 $26,115.00
Firefighters and Protective Service 64,910 $29,534.00
Law Enforcement 62,176 $71,032.00
Food Preparation and Serving 325,074 $13,822.00
Building and Grounds Cleaning 202,446 $25,133.00
Personal Care and Service 157,211 $17,661.00
Sales 583,694 $33,335.00
Office and Administrative Support 704,529 $35,464.00
Farming, Fishing, and Forestry 25,386 $26,228.00
Construction and Extraction 278,869 $47,474.00
Installation, Maintenance, and Repair 195,890 $49,832.00
Production 371,754 $40,767.00
Transportation and Material Moving 244,867 $39,783.00

Occupations by Gender

The table below shows the same occupations from the list above, but we have split them by male and female to see how many male and females work in each occupation, the median earnings, and the male to female ratio of earnings.

That last metric is important because it can be used to look at the gender pay gap between men and women.

Occupation Male Female
Population Earnings Population Earnings
Management 382,538 $87,328.00 261,727 $64,290.00
Business and Financial 174,445 $78,994.00 188,937 $59,847.00
Computer and Mathematical 146,183 $84,941.00 51,970 $71,804.00
Architecture and Engineering 104,061 $83,397.00 18,184 $68,851.00
Life, Physical, and Social Science 38,964 $70,383.00 33,764 $62,222.00
Community and Social Service 44,954 $46,079.00 89,539 $43,009.00
Legal 34,630 $122,958.00 36,910 $63,416.00
Educational and Library 107,083 $64,603.00 276,003 $44,200.00
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media 53,768 $46,353.00 54,436 $35,960.00
Healthcare Practitioners 109,409 $81,545.00 350,768 $59,049.00
Healthcare Support 36,818 $28,333.00 202,256 $25,687.00
Firefighters and Protective Service 44,809 $33,908.00 20,101 $20,124.00
Law Enforcement 52,256 $73,981.00 9,920 $55,490.00
Food Preparation and Serving 139,490 $15,973.00 185,584 $12,624.00
Building and Grounds Cleaning 128,268 $29,395.00 74,178 $18,463.00
Personal Care and Service 37,635 $22,049.00 119,576 $16,700.00
Sales 295,145 $49,252.00 288,549 $21,739.00
Office and Administrative Support 174,397 $40,969.00 530,132 $34,287.00
Farming, Fishing, and Forestry 18,322 $29,435.00 7,064 $20,241.00
Construction and Extraction 271,015 $48,001.00 7,854 $30,430.00
Installation, Maintenance, and Repair 189,577 $50,317.00 6,313 $35,299.00
Production 274,772 $44,973.00 96,982 $29,740.00
Transportation and Material Moving 209,531 $42,874.00 35,336 $21,549.00

Households and Family Size

A household defined bu the US Census Bureau is a group of people who occupy a housing unit. A housing unit is a house, apartment, mobile home, group of rooms, or single room occupied as separate living quarters.

There are currently 5,147,783 households in Pennsylvania, with an average household size of 2.44 people.

A family is defined as a group of two or more people related by birth, marriage, or adoption who live together in the same household.

There are 3,270,091 families in Pennsylvania with an average family size of 3.05 people.

Households by Marital Status

The four categories of household by marital status are:

  • Married-couple family
  • Male householder with no spouse present
  • Female household with no spouse present
  • Nonfamily household

The table below shows the total number of households and families, with the average sizes of each.

Married Male Female Nonfamily
Total Households 2,427,747 238,416 603,928 1,877,692
Average Household Size 3.09 3.15 3.27 1.23
Total Families 2,427,747 238,416 603,928 0
Average Household Size 3.08 2.77 3.06 0

Poverty

Of the 3,270,091 families in Pennsylvania, 8.00% are considered to be below the poverty threshold.

The table below shows the latest poverty thresholds in Pennsylvania:

Household Size Poverty Threshold
1 Person $14,580.00
2 People $19,720.00
3 People $24,860.00
4 People $30,000.00
5 People $35,140.00
6 People $40,280.00
7 People $45,420.00
8 People $50,560.00

Housing

There are 5,728,788 housing units in Pennsylvania.

The table below shows the split between occupied and vacant units:

Total Percentage
Occupied 5,147,783 89.86%
Vacant 581,005 10.14%

26.20% of the total 5,728,788 housing units in Pennsylvania are rental units. This is approximately 1,501,163 properties.

For owner-occupied housing units, a total of 3,560,917 are occupied by the owner - or 62.16% of the total.

Rental Rates

The median rent for a property in Pennsylvania is $1,013.00.

In the chart below, we can look at the number of rental properties in Pennsylvania that fall into a particular rent range. These can then be used to compare with other areas, or to see how they have changed over time.

  • No rent paid
    85,703
  • Less than $500
    159,665
  • $500 to $999
    575,186
  • $1,000 to $1,499
    487,403
  • $1,500 to $1,999
    181,142
  • $2,000 to $2,499
    58,516
  • $2,500 to $2,999
    19,784
  • $3,000 or more
    19,467

Property Value

The median value of a property in Pennsylvania is $197,300.00.

Just like with rental rates, we can look at the number of properties in Pennsylvania that fall into a particular value range.

  • Less than $50,000
    231,951
  • $50,000 to $99,999
    466,220
  • $100,000 to $149,999
    517,921
  • $150,000 to $199,999
    591,396
  • $200,000 to $299,999
    799,377
  • $300,000 to $499,999
    659,336
  • $500,000 to $999,999
    251,988
  • $1,000,000 or more
    42,728

Property Age

We can also look at the age of properties in Pennsylvania. The chart below shows the number of properties in Pennsylvania that fall into a particular age range.

  • 1939 or earlier
    1,470,362
  • 1940 to 1949
    410,191
  • 1950 to 1959
    771,101
  • 1960 to 1969
    576,906
  • 1970 to 1979
    716,448
  • 1980 to 1989
    551,065
  • 1990 to 1999
    538,637
  • 2000 to 2009
    459,492
  • 2010 to 2013
    228,525
  • 2014 or later
    6,061

Vehicles per Household

The number of vehicles available per household can be a good indicator of the level of affluence in an area. The chart below shows the number of households in Pennsylvania that have a particular number of vehicles available.

  • No vehicles available
    545,302
  • 1 vehicle available
    1,754,162
  • 2 vehicles available
    1,859,301
  • 3 or more vehicles available
    989,018

Commuting to Work

In this section, we can also look at how people in Pennsylvania get to work. The chart below shows the number of people in Pennsylvania that commute to work in a particular way.

26.9 minutes is the average travel time to work for people in Pennsylvania.

These commute times can be compared to other date like income and educational levels to see how they relate to each other and if there are any trends in the data that might suggest a correlation.

  • Less than 5 minutes
    179,493
  • 5 to 9 minutes
    543,754
  • 10 to 14 minutes
    735,900
  • 15 to 19 minutes
    820,345
  • 20 to 24 minutes
    780,006
  • 25 to 29 minutes
    384,722
  • 30 to 34 minutes
    727,586
  • 35 to 39 minutes
    185,207
  • 40 to 44 minutes
    236,610
  • 45 to 59 minutes
    485,810
  • 60 to 89 minutes
    330,854
  • 90 or more minutes
    160,765

Summary

We've covered a LOT of demographic and population data for Pennsylvania in this article! Hopefully you have found it very useful in your research of the area.

If you use any of the data found on this page, please consider linking back to USPopulation.org as the source and if you have any feedback or data requests, click here to contact us.

Counties in Pennsylvania

We have data for 67 counties in Pennsylvania. Click on a county below to see more information about the demographics of that county, with links to cities and towns within that county.

Zip Codes in Pennsylvania

If you want to find out more about the population and demographics of specific zip codes in Pennsylvania, click on the links below.