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You won't find Dollar General stores and/or McDonalds restaurants dotting the landscape in Pennsylvania's most expensive places, the playgrounds for Pennsylvania's rich and famous are only loaded with the best of the best. Matter of fact, many of Pennsylvania's most expensive places are some of the state's best. What might be a surprise, however, is Pennsylvania's most expensive place to live. But, if you want to know what place is number one, you're going to have to take a look below at HomeSnacks' list of the most expensive places in Pennsylvania for 2023.
How did we calculate our list of the most expensive places in Pennsylvania? First, we created a list of factors that the wealthy find important: safety, jobs, and amenities and created a cost of living index to give the 182 Pennsylvania places we measured a SnackAbility score. And, folks, there's a reason that many of Pennsylvania's most expensive places are located around the state's busiest metropolis, Philadelphia: it's not only one of the most expensive places in the Keystone State, there's lots to do in The City of Brotherly Love that the wealthy find attractive.
More importantly, after looking at home price to income ratios and rent to income ratios for the places on our list with at least 5,000 residents, we also discovered that it's going to take more than a million Hershey, Pennsylvania Hershey's Kisses to keep up with the Joneses in this Mid-Atlantic state: it's going to take at least 36,695/year.
To see a list of the most expensive places in Pennsylvania, grab a basket of Pittsburgh's famous pierogies and keep reading.
Here are the 10 most expensive places to live in Pennsylvania for 2023:
What's the most expensive place to live in Pennsylvania? Well, HomeSnacks crunched the numbers and discovered that State College is the most expensive place to live in Pennsylvania.
So hopefully Greenville (the cheapest place to live in Pennsylvania) can show these guys how to live on a budget in the coming years. Read on for how these places had costs rise faster than inflation.
And if you already knew these places were expensive, check out some more reading about Pennsylvania and the most expensive cities in the country:
The 10 Most Expensive Places To Live In Pennsylvania For 2023
1. State College
/10
Population: 40,352
Rank Last Year: 1 (No Change)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 7.8x (most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 38.7x (2nd most expensive)
More on State College: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The median income in State College comes in at $43,015 and the median home value is $334,300 for 2023.
2. West Chester
/10
Population: 18,592
Rank Last Year: 2 (No Change)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 6.2x (2nd most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 46.9x (22nd most expensive)
More on West Chester: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The median income in West Chester comes in at $65,027 and the median home value is $406,400 for 2023.
3. Oxford
/10
Population: 5,671
Rank Last Year: 7 (Up 3)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 3.9x (10th most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 50.0x (3most expensive)
More on Oxford: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The median income in Oxford comes in at $58,125 and the median home value is $227,600 for 2023.
4. Edinboro
/10
Population: 5,097
Rank Last Year: 6 (Up 1)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 4.8x (5th most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 43.9x (9th most expensive)
More on Edinboro: Real Estate | Data
The median income in Edinboro comes in at $36,695 and the median home value is $176,100 for 2023.
5. Doyle
/10
Population: 8,275
Rank Last Year: 4 (Down 2)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 5.2x (3rd most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 56.3x (65th most expensive)
More on Doyle: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The median income in Doyle comes in at $86,188 and the median home value is $451,200 for 2023.
6. Lewisburg
/10
Population: 5,336
Rank Last Year: 3 (Down 4)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 5.0x (4th most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 51.1x (37th most expensive)
More on Lewisburg: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The median income in Lewisburg comes in at $38,948 and the median home value is $194,300 for 2023.
7. Philadelphia
/10
Population: 1,596,865
Rank Last Year: 9 (Up 1)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 3.5x (18th most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 45.8x (18th most expensive)
More on Philadelphia: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The median income in Philadelphia comes in at $52,649 and the median home value is $184,100 for 2023.
8. Kennett Square
/10
Population: 5,959
Rank Last Year: 20 (Up 11)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 4.2x (8th most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 56.7x (68th most expensive)
More on Kennett Square: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The median income in Kennett Square comes in at $65,984 and the median home value is $275,000 for 2023.
9. Stroudsburg
/10
Population: 5,870
Rank Last Year: 11 (Up 1)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 3.2x (28th most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 40.3x (5th most expensive)
More on Stroudsburg: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The median income in Stroudsburg comes in at $51,765 and the median home value is $163,800 for 2023.
10. Nazareth
/10
Population: 6,016
Rank Last Year: 13 (Up 2)
Home Price To Income Ratio: 3.7x (13th most expensive)
Income To Rent Ratio: 54.6x (54th most expensive)
More on Nazareth: Real Estate | Data | Photos
The median income in Nazareth comes in at $53,476 and the median home value is $197,500 for 2023.
Methodology: How We Determined The Most Expensive Places To Live In The Keystone State For 2023
The two most important things to think about when it comes to being able to afford if you can live comes down to:
- How much do money do I make?
- How much do I have spend to live there?
You need to understand your costs in the context of how much money you make.
For example, if the median household earns $100,000 and spends $40,000 on housing it's actually cheaper to live there than a place with a median income of $50,000 and housing costs of $21,000. You might spend more on housing, but you have more money overall to play with.
With that example in mind, we derived several statistics from the latest Census American Community Survey 2017-2021 around incomes and costs. They are:
- Median Home Price / Median Income (lower is better)
- Median Income / Median Rent (Higher is better)
- Median Home Price
We added simply median home price because high home prices generally correlate with higher expenses for all costs related to homes (heating, electricity, etc).
You can then compare these metrics in each of the places in Pennsylvania to figure out which is the most expensive.
What you are left with is a "Cost of Living Index" by taking the average rank of each of these metrics for each city.
So we used that cost of living index in order to rank all of the 182 places in Pennsylvania that have more than 5,000 people.
The place with the highest cost of living in Pennsylvania according to the data is State College. You can download the data here.
Summary: Taking A Chunk Out Of Your Paycheck In Pennsylvania For 2023
Well there you have it, the places in Pennsylvania that have the highest cost of living, with State College ranking as the most expensive city in the Keystone State.
Here's a look at the most affordable cities in Pennsylvania according to the data:
- Greenville
- Monessen
- Franklin
For more Pennsylvania reading, check out:
- Best Places To Live In Pennsylvania
- Cheapest Places To Live In Pennsylvania
- Most Dangerous Cities In Pennsylvania
- Best Places To Raise A Family In Pennsylvania
- Safest Places In Pennsylvania
- Worst Places To Live In Pennsylvania
Detailed List Of The Most Expensive Cities In Pennsylvania
| Rank | City | ExpensiveScore |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | State College | 3.67 |
| 2 | West Chester | 9.33 |
| 3 | Oxford | 20.67 |
| 4 | Edinboro | 22.0 |
| 5 | Doyle | 23.33 |
| 6 | Lewisburg | 25.33 |
| 7 | Philadelphia | 27.67 |
| 8 | Kennett Square | 29.17 |
| 9 | Stroudsburg | 31.67 |
| 10 | Nazareth | 32.33 |
| 11 | Gettysburg | 33.0 |
| 12 | Millersville | 33.83 |
| 13 | Wyomissing | 34.67 |
| 14 | Media | 35.33 |
| 15 | Downin | 36.0 |
| 16 | Bloomsburg | 36.5 |
| 17 | Bethlehem | 38.67 |
| 18 | Norri | 40.33 |
| 19 | Allentown | 44.0 |
| 20 | Ambler | 44.67 |
| 21 | Conshohocken | 45.67 |
| 22 | Carlisle | 46.33 |
| 23 | Chambersburg | 46.33 |
| 24 | New Holland | 47.0 |
| 25 | Lansdale | 47.0 |
| 26 | Bellefonte | 47.67 |
| 27 | Prospect Park | 49.5 |
| 28 | Lock Haven | 51.33 |
| 29 | Phoenixville | 53.0 |
| 30 | Elizabet | 54.67 |
| 31 | Clifton Heights | 54.83 |
| 32 | Souderton | 55.33 |
| 33 | Bristol | 55.67 |
| 34 | Indiana | 57.0 |
| 35 | Quake | 58.0 |
| 36 | East Stroudsburg | 58.33 |
| 37 | Ephrata | 59.0 |
| 38 | Hatboro | 59.5 |
| 39 | Bangor | 60.83 |
| 40 | Palmyra | 62.0 |
| 41 | Oakmont | 63.0 |
| 42 | Waynesboro | 63.33 |
| 43 | Helle | 64.33 |
| 44 | Mount Joy | 65.17 |
| 45 | Lansdowne | 65.67 |
| 46 | Pittsburgh | 66.0 |
| 47 | Sayre | 66.33 |
| 48 | Hanover | 66.67 |
| 49 | Collingdale | 67.33 |
| 50 | Perkasie | 68.33 |
| 51 | Milton | 68.67 |
| 52 | Brookhaven | 69.33 |
| 53 | Swarthmore | 69.67 |
| 54 | Columbia | 70.0 |
| 55 | Shippensburg | 70.33 |
| 56 | Lancaster | 71.0 |
| 57 | Coatesville | 71.33 |
| 58 | Lititz | 72.0 |
| 59 | Pott | 72.33 |
| 60 | Franklin Park | 73.0 |
| 61 | Glenolden | 76.0 |
| 62 | Emmaus | 76.67 |
| 63 | Selinsgrove | 78.33 |
| 64 | Mechanicsburg | 79.33 |
| 65 | Meadville | 79.33 |
| 66 | Hollidaysburg | 80.67 |
| 67 | Blakely | 81.0 |
| 68 | South Williamsport | 81.67 |
| 69 | Taylor | 81.67 |
| 70 | Catasauqua | 82.67 |
| 71 | Middl | 83.0 |
| 72 | Bellevue | 83.33 |
| 73 | Wilkinsburg | 84.83 |
| 74 | Archbald | 86.0 |
| 75 | Yeadon | 86.0 |
| 76 | Moosic | 86.0 |
| 77 | Lebanon | 86.67 |
| 78 | Folcroft | 87.5 |
| 79 | Scranton | 87.67 |
| 80 | Jefferson Hills | 88.0 |
| 81 | Hazleton | 88.5 |
| 82 | Easton | 88.67 |
| 83 | Williamsport | 89.0 |
| 84 | Uniontown | 89.0 |
| 85 | Morrisville | 89.33 |
| 86 | Lehighton | 90.67 |
| 87 | Ridley Park | 91.67 |
| 88 | Dormont | 92.0 |
| 89 | Greensburg | 92.67 |
| 90 | Steelton | 92.67 |
| 91 | Butler | 94.33 |
| 92 | Whitehall | 96.33 |
| 93 | Dickson City | 98.0 |
| 94 | Kingston | 98.67 |
| 95 | Northampton | 99.33 |
| 96 | Dunmore | 100.0 |
| 97 | Shillington | 100.0 |
| 98 | Economy | 100.33 |
| 99 | Hermitage | 101.0 |
| 100 | Camp Hill | 102.0 |
