Like all states, Pennsylvania has certain places that are going on hard times. These Pennsylvania places have an above-average percentage of people living in poverty, out of work, or not making as much as they should be.
Even as the economy continues to improve, it’s worthwhile to look at the places in each state struggling to make ends meet. So we set our sites on locating the poorest places in Pennsylvania.
To do so, we used Saturday Night Science to analyze the newest Census data from the American Community Survey for the 191 cities in Pennsylvania with more than 5,000 people.
$34,118 median income · 34.9% poverty · #1 lowest income in Pennsylvania
West Hazleton, unfortunately, ranks as the poorest place in Pennsylvania thanks to combination of low pay and and a lack of jobs.
The city of 5,178 people averages the lowest median household income in Pennsylvania and the 3rd highest poverty rate. At the very least, the cost of living ranks in the bottom 15% of place in the state, so things like housing are relatively affordable.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$34,219 median income · 32.0% poverty · #2 lowest income in Pennsylvania
Located in
Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
The second poorest city in Pennsylvania is McKeesport.
The city ranks as having the 6th highest incidence of poverty and 2nd lowest median household income. However, the unemployment rate ‘only’ ranks as the 10th highest in the Keystone State.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$36,538 median income · 33.0% poverty · #4 lowest income in Pennsylvania
Located in
Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
Placing as the third poorest city, Clairton’s median income ranks as the 4th lowest.
And that’s a sign that there’s a relatively substantial jump in the quality of the economy from second to third place on our list. The poverty rate is 33.0% and ranks near the bottom of places in the state.
But what makes up for the relatively low incomes of the city is its low cost of living. The income you do make here goes further than in most parts of the Keystone State.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$40,236 median income · 35.7% poverty · #10 lowest income in Pennsylvania
Lewi ranks as the fourth poorest place in Pennsylvania.
The town ranks as having the 10th lowest median household income and the 2nd highest incidence of poverty in the state.
That being said, there’s still a ton of cultural diversity in the city as it hosts many events throughout the year.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$37,888 median income · 31.9% poverty · #5 lowest income in Pennsylvania
Located in
Cambria County, Pennsylvania
The fifth poorest city in Pennsylvania is Johnstown.
The city ranks as having the 5th lowest median income in the state. However, an extremely low cost of living prevents a good number of folks from living in poverty as the poverty rate only ranks as the 7th highest in Pennsylvania.
Still not the best news for Johnstown.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$35,454 median income · 27.8% poverty · #3 lowest income in Pennsylvania
Located in
Fayette County, Pennsylvania
Uniontown ranks as the sixth poorest place in the Keystone State.
It ranks as having the 13th highest incidence of poverty and the 24th highest unemployment rate.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$41,131 median income · 32.1% poverty · #12 lowest income in Pennsylvania
Located in
Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
McKees Rocks places as the seventh poorest city in Pennsylvania.
The city of over 5,786 ranks as having the 5th highest incidence of poverty in the state. However, it has a very low cost of living which helps to pay the bills each month.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$39,863 median income · 30.0% poverty · #9 lowest income in Pennsylvania
Located in
Delaware County, Pennsylvania
Darby ranks as the eighth poorest city in Pennsylvania.
The big issue for the town is the unemployment rate which ranks as one of the highest in the state.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$45,424 median income · 38.1% poverty · #20 lowest income in Pennsylvania
Located in
Centre County, Pennsylvania
State College couldn’t stay out of the top ten poorest places in Pennsylvania; it ranks number 9.
While the median income is the 20th lowest, there are a substantial number of people that live below the poverty line. Overall, State College ranks as having the most people living in poverty of all the places we analyzed in Pennsylvania.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$41,342 median income · 29.0% poverty · #13 lowest income in Pennsylvania
Located in
Delaware County, Pennsylvania
And rounding out the top ten poorest cities in Pennsylvania is Chester.
The city of 33,619 people ranks in the bottom 20% for both median income and poverty rate in the Keystone State.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Pennsylvania’s statewide median.
Pennsylvania statewide median: $77,971
Pennsylvania statewide median: 11.7%
Pennsylvania statewide median: 5.3%
On the map
Where poverty hits hardest in Pennsylvania
Saturday Night Science
How we determined the poorest places in Pennsylvania for 2026
The first thing that comes to most people’s minds when they think about determining the poorest places is to simply the poverty rate. That is, the number of people living below a federally established level of income for a household of a certain size.
However, we don’t think that one statistic wholly encompasses what it means to be one of the “poorest places”. So we used Saturday Night Science to look at this set of criteria from the newly released 2020-2024 American Community Survey:
- Poverty Level
- Median Household Income
After we collected the data for all 191 places with more than 5,000 people in Pennsylvania, we ranked each place from 1 to 191 for each of the criteria, with 1 being the poorest.
We then averaged all the rankings for a place into a “Poor Score” with the place having the lowest overall Poor Score, West Hazleton, crowned the “Poorest Place In Pennsylvania For 2026”. The median Pennsylvania home is 60 years old — old enough that it pays to compare home warranty plans before something expensive breaks.
The full plate
Detailed list of the poorest places to live in Pennsylvania
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Poor Score | Population | Median income | Poverty | Unemployment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Hazleton | 2.00 | 5,178 | $34,118 | 34.9% | 12.4% |
| 2 | McKeesport | 4.00 | 17,380 | $34,219 | 32.0% | 11.5% |
| 3 | Clairton | 4.00 | 6,044 | $36,538 | 33.0% | 8.2% |
| 4 | Lewi | 6.00 | 8,479 | $40,236 | 35.7% | 4.3% |
| 5 | Johnstown | 6.00 | 18,087 | $37,888 | 31.9% | 6.2% |
| 6 | Uniontown | 8.00 | 9,742 | $35,454 | 27.8% | 9.2% |
| 7 | McKees Rocks | 8.50 | 5,786 | $41,131 | 32.1% | 10.2% |
| 8 | Darby | 9.00 | 10,687 | $39,863 | 30.0% | 18.5% |
| 9 | State College | 10.50 | 41,050 | $45,424 | 38.1% | 5.0% |
| 10 | Chester | 11.50 | 33,619 | $41,342 | 29.0% | 17.6% |
| 11 | New Castle | 13.50 | 21,579 | $42,219 | 28.0% | 12.5% |
| 12 | Reading | 14.00 | 95,242 | $44,091 | 28.7% | 13.7% |
| 13 | Shamokin | 14.50 | 6,853 | $39,690 | 24.6% | 2.1% |
| 14 | Plymouth | 14.50 | 5,770 | $39,167 | 24.1% | 6.8% |
| 15 | Titusville | 17.00 | 5,189 | $38,194 | 23.0% | 8.9% |
| 16 | Harrisburg | 20.00 | 50,287 | $48,099 | 30.5% | 11.4% |
| 17 | Tamaqua | 20.50 | 6,924 | $46,176 | 26.7% | 6.4% |
| 18 | Indiana | 23.00 | 14,212 | $40,857 | 21.7% | 9.6% |
| 19 | Hazleton | 23.50 | 30,111 | $46,177 | 25.0% | 5.6% |
| 20 | Carbondale | 24.00 | 8,789 | $47,716 | 26.4% | 8.4% |
| 21 | Duquesne | 24.50 | 5,149 | $44,180 | 22.9% | 9.1% |
| 22 | Erie | 24.50 | 93,850 | $46,113 | 23.3% | 7.1% |
| 23 | Meadville | 25.00 | 12,577 | $43,308 | 22.3% | 5.7% |
| 24 | Corry | 27.50 | 6,116 | $48,618 | 25.9% | 9.8% |
| 25 | Butler | 28.00 | 13,212 | $44,247 | 21.4% | 8.2% |
| 26 | Williamsport | 28.50 | 27,612 | $48,851 | 25.4% | 6.8% |
| 27 | Punxsutawney | 30.00 | 5,665 | $42,183 | 20.7% | 3.1% |
| 28 | Wilkes-Barre | 31.00 | 44,423 | $48,515 | 23.1% | 8.5% |
| 29 | Lock Haven | 33.00 | 8,447 | $46,102 | 20.9% | 11.2% |
| 30 | Lebanon | 33.50 | 26,536 | $48,456 | 22.9% | 10.1% |
| 31 | Bloomsburg | 34.50 | 13,024 | $51,536 | 26.5% | 7.9% |
| 32 | York | 37.00 | 44,938 | $48,420 | 21.1% | 10.7% |
| 33 | Scranton | 37.50 | 76,033 | $50,739 | 23.0% | 5.4% |
| 34 | Aliquippa | 37.50 | 9,079 | $50,188 | 22.9% | 6.8% |
| 35 | Sharon | 37.50 | 12,936 | $45,670 | 20.0% | 9.4% |
| 36 | Wilkinsburg | 38.50 | 14,027 | $46,416 | 20.4% | 11.2% |
| 37 | Edinboro | 40.00 | 5,440 | $48,173 | 20.5% | 0.4% |
| 38 | Vandergrift | 42.00 | 5,011 | $50,901 | 21.5% | 8.8% |
| 39 | Beaver Falls | 43.00 | 8,850 | $49,924 | 20.9% | 9.5% |
| 40 | Turtle Creek | 45.00 | 5,007 | $45,997 | 17.6% | 16.1% |
| 41 | Pittston | 48.50 | 7,626 | $49,941 | 20.0% | 5.6% |
| 42 | Franklin | 49.50 | 5,984 | $47,117 | 17.3% | 8.5% |
| 43 | Somerset | 49.50 | 5,944 | $47,102 | 17.2% | 5.1% |
| 44 | Jeannette | 50.00 | 8,657 | $49,188 | 18.8% | 4.6% |
| 45 | Connellsville | 50.50 | 6,849 | $45,721 | 16.3% | 6.8% |
| 46 | Bradford | 50.50 | 7,683 | $56,161 | 23.0% | 5.2% |
| 47 | Monessen | 51.50 | 6,780 | $52,889 | 20.8% | 6.0% |
| 48 | Columbia | 52.00 | 10,278 | $54,437 | 21.4% | 3.2% |
| 49 | Sunbury | 55.00 | 9,617 | $51,028 | 18.7% | 4.8% |
| 50 | Allentown | 56.00 | 125,976 | $55,494 | 21.0% | 9.0% |
| 51 | Collingdale | 56.00 | 8,897 | $51,886 | 19.6% | 6.9% |
| 52 | Lewisburg | 56.50 | 5,257 | $54,767 | 20.8% | 0.7% |
| 53 | Berwick | 59.00 | 10,317 | $49,800 | 16.5% | 6.6% |
| 54 | Pottsville | 59.50 | 13,364 | $54,332 | 19.9% | 7.2% |
| 55 | Clearfield | 60.00 | 5,873 | $54,646 | 20.1% | 8.3% |
| 56 | New Kensington | 61.50 | 12,011 | $49,063 | 16.0% | 6.8% |
| 57 | Duryea | 62.50 | 5,084 | $62,462 | 22.6% | 0.7% |
| 58 | Oil City | 62.50 | 9,468 | $51,316 | 16.6% | 5.1% |
| 59 | Altoona | 62.50 | 43,196 | $51,250 | 16.6% | 6.8% |
| 60 | Philadelphia | 65.00 | 1,579,706 | $61,953 | 21.4% | 8.1% |
| 61 | Washington | 66.00 | 13,368 | $52,975 | 16.8% | 8.2% |
| 62 | Kingston | 66.50 | 13,397 | $55,347 | 18.3% | 6.4% |
| 63 | Greenville | 67.00 | 5,523 | $52,661 | 16.5% | 4.7% |
| 64 | Oxford | 68.50 | 5,825 | $67,733 | 23.7% | 5.0% |
| 65 | Nanticoke | 68.50 | 10,653 | $57,462 | 19.4% | 7.7% |
| 66 | Steelton | 68.50 | 6,296 | $58,194 | 19.6% | 5.3% |
| 67 | Millersville | 70.00 | 8,982 | $67,866 | 23.1% | 5.0% |
| 68 | New Brighton | 71.00 | 5,567 | $52,939 | 16.1% | 3.7% |
| 69 | Mount Carmel | 71.00 | 5,677 | $53,021 | 16.2% | 6.4% |
| 70 | Ambridge | 72.00 | 6,890 | $51,537 | 15.5% | 9.4% |
| 71 | Yeadon | 72.00 | 12,181 | $49,759 | 12.6% | 9.4% |
| 72 | Lancaster | 73.50 | 57,719 | $63,690 | 20.3% | 8.1% |
| 73 | Coatesville | 73.50 | 13,353 | $59,256 | 18.1% | 4.8% |
| 74 | Sharon Hill | 75.00 | 6,002 | $75,130 | 27.3% | 16.6% |
| 75 | Pott | 77.50 | 23,476 | $60,828 | 17.5% | 5.1% |
| 76 | Munhall | 77.50 | 10,548 | $52,517 | 13.9% | 7.9% |
| 77 | Pittsburgh | 78.00 | 304,759 | $65,742 | 20.1% | 6.1% |
| 78 | Swissvale | 78.50 | 8,418 | $60,341 | 17.0% | 8.0% |
| 79 | Milton | 79.50 | 6,534 | $54,577 | 15.2% | 5.3% |
| 80 | Nazareth | 80.50 | 6,043 | $56,855 | 16.0% | 1.9% |
| 81 | Gettysburg | 81.00 | 8,254 | $54,365 | 14.1% | 5.7% |
| 82 | Chambersburg | 83.00 | 22,319 | $56,576 | 15.3% | 7.8% |
| 83 | Folcroft | 84.50 | 6,772 | $61,306 | 16.2% | 10.3% |
| 84 | Norri | 85.00 | 35,893 | $66,701 | 18.5% | 7.2% |
| 85 | Shippensburg | 85.50 | 5,620 | $51,503 | 10.8% | 3.9% |
| 86 | Middl | 88.00 | 9,632 | $55,765 | 12.4% | 2.9% |
| 87 | East Stroudsburg | 89.00 | 9,319 | $59,821 | 15.0% | 8.3% |
| 88 | Brentwood | 89.00 | 9,866 | $68,904 | 19.1% | 5.0% |
| 89 | Hanover | 91.50 | 16,584 | $61,293 | 14.5% | 8.9% |
| 90 | Carlisle | 91.50 | 21,852 | $61,720 | 15.1% | 4.4% |
| 91 | Dickson City | 93.00 | 6,023 | $59,963 | 13.1% | 7.7% |
| 92 | West Chester | 95.00 | 20,666 | $78,385 | 20.4% | 7.0% |
| 93 | Tyrone | 95.50 | 5,377 | $57,226 | 11.5% | 5.8% |
| 94 | Warren | 95.50 | 9,240 | $53,815 | 9.9% | 3.1% |
| 95 | DuBois | 96.00 | 7,402 | $62,697 | 14.0% | 3.4% |
| 96 | Bellefonte | 96.50 | 6,009 | $62,540 | 13.1% | 0.7% |
| 97 | Exeter | 98.50 | 5,541 | $57,639 | 11.1% | 6.1% |
| 98 | Grove City | 98.50 | 7,830 | $57,169 | 10.8% | 2.9% |
| 99 | Easton | 99.00 | 29,739 | $69,348 | 16.3% | 5.4% |
| 100 | Sayre | 99.50 | 5,431 | $50,801 | 7.8% | 11.9% |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024. 191 cities with more than 5,000 residents.
Summary
The poorest cities in Pennsylvania for 2026
Like we said earlier, when we set out to identify the poorest places in Pennsylvania, we weren’t sure what we’d encounter, but it ended up being some of the best places to live in Pennsylvania.
When you look at the data, the cities and places mentioned above meet the criteria for being at the very bottom of the income ladder for everyone that lives there. Not sold on Pennsylvania? Take the two-minute Find Your Place quiz and see which state actually fits you.
