Lancaster, PA
Lancaster, PA Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Lancaster, PA Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Lancaster ranks 78th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 75th for income. A household earns $85,802 a year while median rent runs $1,449/mo, making it moderately affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 2% below the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is job market (29th of 300), while air quality is the soft spot (198th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 197th and home prices 173rd among the 300 metros CityLedger tracks.
For your salary & household
Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.
On $75,000 for just you in Lancaster, your take-home is worth about $60,058 once local prices are factored in — local prices stretch it further than the U.S. average.
Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.
The numbers
Income & cost
- Median income
- 75th of 300↑27.3%$85,802
- Cost of living?The local price level vs. the U.S. average of 100 (BEA). Lower means cheaper. This is raw prices, not adjusted for income.
- 198th of 30098 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $87,324
- Per-capita income
- $44,439
- Full-time pay
- $46,223
Housing
- Median rent
- 197th of 300↑38.5%$1,449/mo
- Home value
- 173rd of 300↑46.1%$332,600
- Property tax
- $3,890/yr · 1.2%
- Sales tax
- 6.34%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 29th of 3003%
- Bachelor's+
- 132nd of 30035%
- Avg commute
- 168th of 30024.6 min
People
- Population
- 563,293
- Population change
- +3.2%
- Median age
- 40.0 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 6.5%
- Broadband
- 90.3%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 198th of 30050
- Natural-hazard loss
- 118th of 300$11/$10k
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ACS), U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. EPA, FEMA, NOAA — every figure's source is listed on our methodology page. Data built 2026-06-14. ↑↓ mark the change since 2019.
How CityLedger scores it
Transparent weights — see our methodology.
Strengths
- + Affordability
- + Household income
- + Job market
- + Health
Watch-outs
- —
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — lancaster ap.
What jobs pay in Lancaster
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $294,800
- IT managers
- $142,460
- Pharmacists
- $134,320
- Financial managers
- $134,280
- Lawyers
- $125,510
- Software developers
- $104,740
- General & operations managers
- $98,810
- Civil engineers
- $97,780
- Registered nurses
- $89,620
- Police officers
- $86,800
- Secondary school teachers
- $80,820
- Web developers
- $80,710
- Elementary school teachers
- $78,360
- Accountants & auditors
- $76,110
- Electricians
- $63,490
- Plumbers
- $61,950
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $58,350
- Carpenters
- $55,690
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $49,650
- Construction laborers
- $48,670
- Customer service reps
- $44,290
- Janitors
- $35,690
- Waiters & waitresses
- $32,190
- Retail salespersons
- $30,280
- Cashiers
- $28,680
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS 2025 — annual median wage. Cross-industry, all experience levels.
Where new residents move from
The states sending the most people to the Lancaster metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Pennsylvania are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- New Jersey1,136
- Maryland813
- Florida802
- New York792
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Lancaster
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Lancaster metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Lancaster metro?
- Median gross rent across the Lancaster, PA Metro Area is $1,449 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Lancaster.
- What is the median household income in the Lancaster metro?
- A typical household in the Lancaster, PA Metro Area earns $85,802 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Lancaster expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Lancaster, PA Metro Area runs about 2% below the U.S. average (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024) — prices are lower than average, before accounting for local pay.
- Does a paycheck go far in the Lancaster metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $87,324 (versus its face value of $85,802). CityLedger rates the Lancaster, PA Metro Area moderately affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Lancaster metro?
- The median home value across the Lancaster, PA Metro Area is $332,600 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Lancaster metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Lancaster, PA Metro Area is 3% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).