Butler, Pennsylvania

Area Profile

13,212 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Butler, in Butler County.

66out of 100
Area Score
Top 32% of 2,944 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 27% of 3,904 published cities67
Growth2784th of 2,973 published cities18
Housing affordabilityTop 31% of 4,223 published cities90
Climate3440th of 4,223 published cities61
Physical resilienceTop 15% of 4,182 published cities86
Access2939th of 4,226 published cities86
Economic stability3807th of 4,226 published cities33
The quick read

Unemployment is 3.4% and median household income $44,247, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published city profiles.

Rent takes 22% of median household income here, below the 30% threshold conventionally called cost-burdened, and the median home is 2.4 times that income.

Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published city profiles, placing Butler in the top 15% for physical resilience.

At a glance

Population
13,212
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$44,247
Bottom 15% nationally
Density
4,859/sq mi
2.7 sq mi of land
Median age
38.1
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Butler County
Pennsylvania
Metro area
Pittsburgh, PA
Nearest major airport
PIT
31 mi · Pittsburgh Intl
Median home value
$108,100
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.4% is lower than 87% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment grew 2.3% over the past year, to 99,086 employed residents.

Median household income of $44,247 is below 85% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$4,007$44,247Bottom 15%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$3,103$30,500Bottom 38%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate21.4%Top 21%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute24.5 minBottom 38%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher23.0%Top 44%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment99,086Top 39%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)1.4%Top 29%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)2.3%Top 4%June 2026
Labor force102,566Top 39%June 2026
Labor force participation60.0%Bottom 48%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$65,230Bottom 33%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$49,650Bottom 38%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.5%Bottom 17%June 2026
Unemployment rate3.4%Bottom 13%June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202444k37k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $44,247 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Pittsburgh, PA
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Home Health and Personal Care Aides37,200$29,250
General and Operations Managers31,020$100,840
Registered Nurses29,360$82,370
Retail Salespersons28,700$30,840
Fast Food and Counter Workers27,460$28,250
Cashiers20,950$29,470

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for Butler County, PA, which contains this city.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $818 takes 22% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 2.4 times median household income here, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
22.2%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.4×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$818
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$108,100
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income2.44Bottom 36%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate46.1%Bottom 7%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±3317,308Top 8%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$36$818Bottom 30%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$12,834$108,100Bottom 22%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income22.2%Top 28%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate16.3%Top 31%2024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
18/ 100
Ranks 2784 of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is broadly steady, measured from 2020 to 2025.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has fallen 4% since 2020, reaching 13,010 in 2024.

At 0.0 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
0
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
0.0
Bottom 1% nationally
Year over year
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202413k13k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
2020202120222023202420251.00.0
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2020 (−100%).

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 82°F and January a low of 17°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 43.2 inches, including 34.9 inches of snow.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station BUTLER 2 SW, 1.7 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.3"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation43.2"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall34.9"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low17°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high82°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing44°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today.

Physical risk

86 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding and winter weather.

Inland floodingModerate
Winter weatherModerate

Low or minimal exposure: lightning, landslide, strong wind, tornado, hurricane, ice storm, earthquake, heat wave, wildfire, hail, cold wave.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Butler County records 2.1 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, lower than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 15.6 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 17.6 per 100,000 residents in Butler County.

Homicide
2.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
15.6
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
17.6
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
20.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Butler County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Butler rather than Butler itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.

Access

5 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 31 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Pittsburgh IntlPIT31 mi11,500 ft
Arnold Palmer RgnlLBE48 mi8,222 ft
Youngstown/Warren RgnlYNG49 mi9,003 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
66
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Other cities in Pittsburgh, PA

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
PittsburghAllegheny County304,75972vs Butler
Bethel ParkAllegheny County32,88181vs Butler
MonroevilleAllegheny County28,29575vs Butler
PlumAllegheny County26,72375vs Butler
Allison ParkAllegheny County22,045vs Butler
New CastleLawrence County21,57951vs Butler
BaldwinAllegheny County21,05772vs Butler
MurrysvilleWestmoreland County20,81780vs Butler
West MifflinAllegheny County19,19064vs Butler
McKeesportAllegheny County17,38055vs Butler
Franklin ParkAllegheny County15,23582vs Butler
WhitehallAllegheny County14,81172vs Butler

Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.

Compare

Put Butler side by side with a similar place.

Butler vs New KensingtonButler vs WilkinsburgButler vs ShilohButler vs Indiana

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.