Prices, pay, taxes, homes and family budgets, county by county, from the same official data the site's calculators use.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis measures price levels in every state against a national average of 100. Pennsylvania scores 97.6 overall, so a $75,000 salary at average US prices buys what $73,179 buys here. Compare any salary with another state.
| Price level | Pennsylvania (US = 100) | Rank, most expensive first |
|---|---|---|
| Everything | 97.6 | 24th of 51 |
| Rents | 85.1 | 27th of 51 |
| Goods | 99.4 | — |
| Other services | 99.8 | — |
Home electricity averaged 17.77 cents a kilowatt-hour in 2024, against 17.06 across all states. A gallon of regular gas cost $4.21 at the end of August 2026, against $4.12.
Across all 6,064,600 jobs the Bureau of Labor Statistics counts in Pennsylvania, the median pay is $49,690 a year, or $23.89 an hour; that ranks 26th of the 50 states and DC. One worker in ten earns less than $28,920 and one in ten more than $117,860.
Pennsylvania taxes wages at a flat 3.07%. The brackets in Pennsylvania. A single filer on the median $49,690, with no retirement or health deductions, takes home about $40,580 a year, or $1,561 every two weeks, after $3,783 of federal income tax, $3,801 of Social Security and Medicare and $1,525 of state income tax. Work out your own paycheck in Pennsylvania.
The five occupations employing the most people, with their median annual pay:
| Occupation | Jobs | Median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Home Health and Personal Care Aides | 257,370 | $29,420 |
| General and Operations Managers | 172,010 | $103,130 |
| Registered Nurses | 146,520 | $96,430 |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | 142,220 | $28,570 |
| Retail Salespersons | 141,790 | $31,200 |
Of the 20 largest occupations, the best paid are software developers ($126,550), general and operations managers ($103,130), registered nurses ($96,430). See what common jobs pay in every state.
Across the 67 Pennsylvania counties with their own Zillow home value, the median typical home is worth $230,781, and across the 50 with their own rent figure the median typical rent is $1,311 a month. A typical home costs 2.78 years of the county's median family income, at the median county.
With 10% down at 7.03%, the average 30-year rate on September 24, 2026, that home costs about $1,869 a month with tax, insurance and mortgage insurance, which takes $80,103 a year of income under the usual 28% guideline. The median family can afford its own county's typical home in 56.7% of Pennsylvania's counties, against 44.9% of counties nationally. Try it with your own income.
At the median county, home values changed +3.2% over the past year and +20.4% over five years, and rents +3.8% over the past year.
The most expensive Pennsylvania counties are Chester County ($582,402), Bucks County ($530,927) and Montgomery County ($499,755); the least expensive are Cameron County ($75,974), Cambria County ($102,271) and McKean County ($112,627).
The Economic Policy Institute prices what a modest but adequate standard of living costs in every county: housing, food, transport, healthcare, childcare, other necessities and taxes. In the median Pennsylvania county, that comes to $43,843 a year for one adult and $99,686 for two adults and two children, of which $18,941 is childcare. The national averages are $47,367 and $101,771. Median family income in the median county is $81,780.
| Two adults, two children | Per year, median county | Per month |
|---|---|---|
| Housing | $12,252 | $1,021 |
| Food | $12,016 | $1,001 |
| Transportation | $18,971 | $1,581 |
| Healthcare | $15,917 | $1,326 |
| Childcare | $18,941 | $1,578 |
| Other necessities | $7,560 | $630 |
| Taxes | $13,621 | $1,135 |
Each line is its own median across counties, so the lines do not add up exactly to the total.
The Department of Education's College Scorecard lists 317 colleges in Pennsylvania, 91 of them public. The median public college reports a cost of attendance of $26,915 a year, covering tuition, housing, books and other expenses. Ten years after enrolling, the median school's former students earn $49,700. Compare degrees and schools.
| Adams County | $338,846 | +3.7% | $1,269 | $98,269 | $116,255 |
| Allegheny County | $242,847 | 0.0% | $1,524 | $106,527 | $108,843 |
| Armstrong County | $161,746 | −2.0% | — | $82,849 | $100,204 |
| Beaver County | $209,406 | +3.9% | $1,057 | $90,917 | $100,400 |
| Bedford County | $216,240 | +5.1% | — | $78,362 | $89,071 |
| Berks County | $315,430 | +3.1% | $1,517 | $95,578 | $108,457 |
| Blair County | $180,150 | +7.2% | $1,080 | $83,069 | $92,988 |
| Bradford County | $209,389 | +5.1% | $1,046 | $80,450 | $94,913 |
| Bucks County | $530,927 | +3.3% | $2,242 | $135,125 | $131,293 |
| Butler County | $317,783 | −1.3% | $1,835 | $113,174 | $109,701 |
| Cambria County | $102,271 | +0.9% | $875 | $79,651 | $91,716 |
| Cameron County | $75,974 | −10.2% | — | $61,830 | $97,035 |
| Carbon County | $270,784 | +0.6% | $1,238 | $80,645 | $99,686 |
| Centre County | $357,278 | +2.5% | $1,796 | $108,006 | $120,409 |
| Chester County | $582,402 | +2.7% | $2,237 | $151,769 | $146,237 |
| Clarion County | $140,709 | −1.4% | — | $79,395 | $90,603 |
| Clearfield County | $137,762 | +4.6% | $1,087 | $75,314 | $89,713 |
| Clinton County | $202,263 | +2.8% | $942 | $74,200 | $92,996 |
| Columbia County | $247,013 | +5.3% | $1,117 | $77,998 | $103,671 |
| Crawford County | $172,456 | +7.5% | $937 | $74,138 | $91,047 |
| Cumberland County | $350,463 | +2.7% | $1,622 | $107,950 | $118,737 |
| Dauphin County | $281,448 | +3.2% | $1,411 | $94,657 | $113,752 |
| Delaware County | $369,806 | +2.7% | $1,831 | $115,573 | $119,421 |
| Elk County | $140,550 | +14.7% | — | $83,190 | $96,873 |
| Erie County | $226,760 | +5.7% | $1,126 | $81,261 | $97,090 |
| Fayette County | $146,930 | +0.3% | $952 | $75,111 | $95,672 |
| Forest County | $124,539 | +11.4% | — | $61,276 | $94,110 |
| Franklin County | $293,169 | +2.5% | $1,338 | $88,785 | $107,552 |
| Fulton County | $236,454 | +7.1% | — | $81,904 | $98,117 |
| Greene County | $144,783 | −3.2% | — | $86,188 | $100,957 |
| Huntingdon County | $180,432 | +4.0% | — | $81,780 | $86,411 |
| Indiana County | $170,631 | +7.7% | $937 | $79,656 | $95,291 |
| Jefferson County | $122,760 | +1.4% | — | $70,758 | $95,533 |
| Juniata County | $230,781 | +2.8% | — | $78,750 | $99,844 |
| Lackawanna County | $232,896 | +1.9% | $1,352 | $84,837 | $102,777 |
| Lancaster County | $390,027 | +4.6% | $1,558 | $100,685 | $112,820 |
| Lawrence County | $165,251 | +3.3% | $948 | $81,282 | $97,442 |
| Lebanon County | $321,500 | +5.2% | $1,412 | $91,891 | $112,238 |
| Lehigh County | $368,933 | +4.1% | $1,843 | $94,059 | $113,830 |
| Luzerne County | $228,833 | +2.7% | $1,327 | $80,310 | $101,024 |
| Lycoming County | $238,627 | +4.2% | $1,085 | $80,388 | $94,675 |
| McKean County | $112,627 | −2.7% | $1,098 | $78,413 | $88,506 |
| Mercer County | $172,517 | +1.0% | $836 | $78,611 | $97,734 |
| Mifflin County | $197,747 | +6.6% | — | $71,884 | $96,575 |
| Monroe County | $313,041 | +1.5% | $1,926 | $96,613 | $113,654 |
| Montgomery County | $499,755 | +2.4% | $2,092 | $140,263 | $139,321 |
| Montour County | $278,887 | +4.2% | $1,425 | $92,283 | $107,132 |
| Northampton County | $376,804 | +3.1% | $1,926 | $106,251 | $115,847 |
| Northumberland County | $161,381 | +2.5% | $961 | $77,435 | $93,468 |
| Perry County | $299,172 | +4.2% | $1,295 | $93,694 | $107,413 |
| Philadelphia County | $234,557 | +0.2% | $1,797 | $71,024 | $109,489 |
| Pike County | $305,946 | +3.6% | $2,216 | $92,712 | $120,838 |
| Potter County | $163,399 | +5.1% | — | $74,818 | $94,700 |
| Schuylkill County | $167,130 | +4.6% | $1,213 | $80,064 | $92,157 |
| Snyder County | $231,911 | +4.5% | $1,075 | $80,553 | $95,705 |
| Somerset County | $179,615 | +5.3% | $775 | $76,899 | $84,868 |
| Sullivan County | $216,962 | +7.9% | — | $81,806 | $96,024 |
| Susquehanna County | $247,115 | +5.3% | — | $81,291 | $98,017 |
| Tioga County | $224,670 | +3.5% | — | $75,851 | $95,886 |
| Union County | $297,017 | +6.4% | $1,349 | $95,927 | $95,497 |
| Venango County | $132,739 | +0.1% | $982 | $76,833 | $89,734 |
| Warren County | $140,226 | +2.5% | $862 | $76,027 | $90,302 |
| Washington County | $242,238 | +2.8% | $1,327 | $102,913 | $105,663 |
| Wayne County | $309,740 | +3.8% | $1,482 | $77,621 | $104,942 |
| Westmoreland County | $216,792 | −1.1% | $1,043 | $94,904 | $101,615 |
| Wyoming County | $236,033 | +1.2% | — | $84,795 | $103,427 |
| York County | $312,072 | +3.2% | $1,410 | $99,386 | $116,295 |
A dash means the source publishes no figure for that county. Home values and rents are Zillow's own county figures only; counties Zillow does not cover are left blank rather than filled with a state average.
New York, NY (typical rent $3,627), Philadelphia, PA (typical rent $1,925), Pittsburgh, PA (typical rent $1,499), Allentown, PA (typical rent $1,873), Harrisburg, PA (typical rent $1,482), Scranton, PA (typical rent $1,333).
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County figures are medians across Pennsylvania's counties, each counting once, so they describe the spread of places rather than of people. Property tax and insurance vary widely; the calculators let you use your own.