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Data on this report is based on areas within the legal city boundary, outlined in black on the map. Any additional neighborhoods shown on the map are associated with the city by name and are included for reference only.

Lancaster, PA
Real Estate & Demographic Data






Lancaster profile


Living in Lancaster



Lancaster is a larger medium-sized city located in the state of Pennsylvania. With a population of 57,453 people and 36 associated neighborhoods, Lancaster is the ninth largest community in Pennsylvania. Much of the housing stock in Lancaster was built prior to World War II, making it one of the older and more historic cities in the country.

Also of interest is that Lancaster has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.

One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 7.81% of the workforce. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce this is high compared to the rest of the county. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes.

One thing that you will notice about Lancaster is that there is a good-sized population of people who are young, single, educated, and upwardly-mobile career starters. Many singles consider Lancaster a good place to live without being in a really big city, with opportunities for friendships and fun with others like themselves.

For the size of the city, public transportation in Lancaster is quite heavily used. Mostly, people who use it for their daily commute are taking the bus. For Lancaster, the benefits are reduced air pollution and congestion on the highways.

In terms of college education, Lancaster is somewhat better educated than the 21.84% who have a 4-year degree or higher in the typical US community: 27.41% of adults 25 and older in the city have at least a bachelor's degree.

The per capita income in Lancaster in 2018 was $28,653, which is lower middle income relative to Pennsylvania and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $114,612 for a family of four. However, Lancaster contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

Lancaster is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Lancaster home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. People of Hispanic or Latino origin are the most prevalent group in Lancaster, accounting for 39.37% of the city’s residents (people of Hispanic or Latino origin can be of any race). The greatest number of Lancaster residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Lancaster include German, Irish, English, Italian, and Swiss.

The most common language spoken in Lancaster is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and African languages.