Cambria County, PA

County Profile

131,538 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Cambria County, PA.

Several figures AreaProfile publishes are measured by county and nowhere finer — death rates by intent among them. On this page those describe the geography they are printed on, which is not true of the city and ZIP pages that inherit them.

58out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 46% of 1,453 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks

Data updated · 14 sources
Opportunity902nd of 1,463 counties measured49
Schools1,050th of 1,377 counties measured30
Growth1,331st of 1,453 counties measured24
Housing affordabilityTop 29% of 1,462 counties measured78
Climate985th of 1,463 counties measured62
Physical resilienceTop 1% of 1,463 counties measured96
Access898th of 1,463 counties measured75
Economic stability1,064th of 1,463 counties measured42
The quick read

Unemployment is 4.4% and median household income $58,418, putting employment conditions in the middle range of counties measured.

In the public schools here, 45% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 13.2 students for every teacher.

59 housing units were authorized over the past twelve months, within 3% of the prior year — steady rather than turning.

These sentences are written by fixed rules from the measurements below — a statement appears because a number crossed a stated threshold, and the values behind it are stored with it. No figure anywhere on this site is invented, estimated or inferred to fill a gap. How this works.

At a glance

Population
131,538
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$58,418
Bottom 31% nationally
Density
191/sq mi
688 sq mi of land
Median age
45.6
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Cambria County
Pennsylvania
Metro area
Nearest major airport
LBE
40 mi · Arnold Palmer Rgnl
Median home value
$121,000
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.4% — higher than in all but 38% of the 1,467 measured US counties.

Employment grew 2.8% over the past year, to 53,631 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Income of new arrivalsfiling years 2022–2023$48,97819th percentileof 1,417filing years 2022–2023
Income of those who leftfiling years 2022–2023$51,81629th percentileof 1,417filing years 2022–2023
Median household income ±$1,5322024 ACS 5-Year$58,418Bottom 31%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,2762024 ACS 5-Year$34,692Bottom 49%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per-capita personal income2023$50,870Bottom 28%of 1,3892023
Poverty rate ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year13.9%Bottom 43%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute ±0.5 min2024 ACS 5-Year24.6 minTop 41%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher ±0.9%2024 ACS 5-Year23.9%Top 43%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Drove alone to work ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year78.3%55th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
EmploymentJuly 202653,631Top 38%of 1,467July 2026
Employment change (3 years)July 2026−1.8%Bottom 29%of 1,467July 2026
Employment change (year over year)July 2026+2.8%Top 6%of 1,467July 2026
Labor forceJuly 202656,10863rd percentileof 1,467July 2026
Labor force participation ±0.9%2024 ACS 5-Year75.4%Bottom 49%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Public transit to work ±0.3%2024 ACS 5-Year0.8%83rd percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)July 2026−1.4%Top 4%of 1,467July 2026
Unemployment rateJuly 20264.4%Bottom 38%of 1,467July 2026
Worked from home ±0.9%2024 ACS 5-Year10.4%66th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year

Unemployment rate

2021/072022/072023/072024/072025/072026/077.53.5
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 4.4% in July 2026. It has been falling, over a series running from 2020-01 to 2026-07. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.

Median household income, successive ACS releases

202120222023202458k51k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $58,418 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 — Johnstown, PA

OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Home Health and Personal Care Aides1,740$28,930
Fast Food and Counter Workers1,380$24,750
Retail Salespersons1,370$27,960
Cashiers1,210$27,430
Registered Nurses1,190$84,390
General and Operations Managers1,150$86,370

Searches the 40 largest occupations here that have a published wage.

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.

45% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 61% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 13.2 students for every full-time teacher across 34 public schools, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
36
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
13.2
across 34 of them
Math proficiency
45.2%
Bottom 15% in Pennsylvania
Reading proficiency
61.4%
Bottom 21% in Pennsylvania
The 12 largest of 36 public schools, by enrollment.
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Greater Johnstown El SchGreater Johnstown SD1,13316.020%27%
Forest Hills El SchForest Hills SD99414.252%66%
Greater Johnstown SHSGreater Johnstown SD91712.919%40%
Richland El SchRichland SD83115.764%72%
Forest Hills JSHSForest Hills SD79814.342%69%
Westmont Hilltop El SchWestmont Hilltop SD74913.949%69%
Richland HSRichland SD69314.458%75%
Westmont Hilltop JSHSWestmont Hilltop SD68915.048%62%
Greater Johnstown MSGreater Johnstown SD61511.810%29%
Cambria El SchCentral Cambria SD54216.957%72%
Penn Cambria HSPenn Cambria SD53814.572%72%
Cambria Heights El SchCambria Heights SD53312.148%70%

60.5% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with, not how the schools perform, so it is shown and not scored.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data, placed by ZIP code — which schools are in this place, not which one a particular address is zoned for. A dash in a proficiency column is a gap in the federal file, not a bad result. Proficiency is measured against Pennsylvania’s own standard, so it is ranked within state. How to read school figures.

Prices for everything a household buys run about 12% below the national average — the Bureau of Economic Analysis index reads 88.5, against 100 for the nation. Nationally, housing drives most of the spread between places in this index; other goods vary far less.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s house price index for the Johnstown, PA Metro Area is up 47% over five years, and up 6.1% over the last year. It follows repeat sales of the same homes, so it measures price change rather than which homes happened to sell.

Homeowners here who pay a tax bill pay a median of $1,492 a year in real estate taxes, about 1.23% of the median home value.

HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $1,035, some 40% above the $739 tenants already here pay.

At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $1,035 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $41,400 a year, about 71% of the median household income here of $58,418.

The typical renter household here spends 28% of its income on rent, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $739 a month.

A median home at $121,000 costs 1.7 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $71,055, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Cost of living
88.5

Prices here run about 12% below the national average. The spread between places is driven mostly by housing — goods vary far less — and this excludes taxes.

Published for the Johnstown, PA Metro Area as a whole. Prices are regional — people shop, commute and rent across a metropolitan area rather than within a city boundary — so this describes the cost of living around this place better than a figure drawn to its own limits would.

Rent as a share of income
27.5%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
1.7×
median home value ÷ owner household income
Market rent, two bedroom
$1,035
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$739
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$121,000
2024 ACS 5-Year

The figures above are measured against Cambria County’s median household income of $58,418, which describes the place rather than you. Enter your own and the ratio is recomputed against it. It stays in this browser.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Cost of living indexthe Johnstown, PA Metro Area’s figure202388.5Top 10%of 8872023
Home price change (1 year)the Johnstown, PA Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+6.1%89th percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price change (5 years)the Johnstown, PA Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+46.7%60th percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price change (10 years)the Johnstown, PA Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+71.7%16th percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price to income ±0.12024 ACS 5-Year1.7Top 10%of 3,2172024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate ±0.9%2024 ACS 5-Year76.4%60th percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±912024 ACS 5-Year64,45686th percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroomFY2026$846Top 33%of 1,423FY2026
Market rent, three bedroomFY2026$1,431Top 41%of 1,423FY2026
Market rent, two bedroomFY2026$1,035Top 31%of 1,423FY2026
Median gross rent ±$192024 ACS 5-Year$739Top 21%of 3,2152024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$2,8482024 ACS 5-Year$121,00018th percentileof 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Median property taxes ±$372024 ACS 5-Year$1,49246th percentileof 3,1722024 ACS 5-Year
Owner household income ±$1,8712024 ACS 5-Year$71,055Bottom 37%of 3,2182024 ACS 5-Year
Property tax rate ±0.04%2024 ACS 5-Year1.23%79th percentileof 3,1262024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year27.5%Top 47%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Seasonal and second homes ±1662024 ACS 5-Year85371st percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year1.3%31st percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year11.8%68th percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Vacant housing units ±6142024 ACS 5-Year8,48389th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year

These measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with. They compare housing cost with local earnings only: transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not in them. How to read affordability, the two rent figures and the cost-of-living index.

Development Momentum

24/ 100
Ranks 1,331 of 1,453 published county profiles
Permitting has been falling for the last 2 years of a series running from 2022 to 2025. That is the direction of the recent run. The chart below compares the first year with the last, which can point the other way.

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 2% since 2020, to 130,108 in 2024.

New construction is predominantly single-family: of 59 units permitted over the past twelve months, none were in buildings of five or more homes.

Federal tax returns show that people moving in from elsewhere in the US and people moving out roughly balanced across Cambria County in the most recent year. Households that moved in reported an average income of $48,978, below the $51,816 of households that moved out.

At 0.4 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US counties.

Units permitted
59
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
0.4
Bottom 7% nationally
Year over year
−3%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings

Population, annual estimates

20202021202220232024133k130k
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. It has been falling for the last 4 years, over a series running from 2020 to 2024.

People moving in and out

Net migration
0.0%
of residents, in a year
Arrivals from another state
37%
of people moving in
Income of arrivals
$48,978
average per tax return
Income of those who left
$51,816
average per tax return

Where newcomers came from

  1. Somerset County, PA 429 people · 12% of arrivals
  2. Blair County, PA 296 people · 8.6% of arrivals
  3. Indiana County, PA 212 people · 6.2% of arrivals
  4. Philadelphia County, PA 196 people · 5.7% of arrivals
  5. Allegheny County, PA 166 people · 4.8% of arrivals

Where people who left went

  1. Somerset County, PA 460 people · 13% of departures
  2. Blair County, PA 336 people · 9.7% of departures
  3. Allegheny County, PA 271 people · 7.8% of departures
  4. Indiana County, PA 261 people · 7.6% of departures
  5. Westmoreland County, PA 158 people · 4.6% of departures

Based on the address on federal tax returns, compared with the same filers a year earlier. It counts people who file, and sees a move only when the address on a return changes. Domestic moves only: people arriving from abroad are left out. IRS Statistics of Income, filing years 2022–2023.

Housing units permitted per year

20222023202420257258
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2022 (+7%).

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 79°F and January a low of 19°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 41.3 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 42, in the Good band, and no day in the year passed 100.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station JOHNSTOWN CAMBRIA CO AP, 14.9 miles from this location.

Precipitation

JFMAMJJASOND4.4"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index2024 calendar year592024 calendar year
Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals41.3"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low1991-2020 Normals19°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high1991-2020 Normals79°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals51991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 1002024 calendar year02024 calendar year
Median air quality index2024 calendar year422024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals44°F1991-2020 Normals

Air quality

Median air quality index
42
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
59
90th percentile index
Days above 100
0
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. Air quality is measured by EPA monitors and published by county only where a monitor sits; a county without one shows nothing rather than an estimate, and a county reading is still the county’s. How to read climate and air quality.

Physical risk

96 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, cold wave and tornado, with inland flooding alone responsible for 76% of it. Every one of these is independently rated low or minimal nationally — this describes how a small risk is composed, not a large one.

Overall hazard risk is lower than 99% of measured US counties.

HurricaneModerate

Low or minimal exposure: inland flooding, lightning, landslide, winter weather, strong wind, hail, cold wave, tornado, earthquake, avalanche, wildfire, ice storm, heat wave, drought, tsunami, coastal flooding, volcanic activity.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). These are FEMA’s own figures for this county rather than a value derived from surrounding geographies. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offenses — they say nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Cambria County has a modeled homicide rate of about 3.6 per 100,000 residents a year, because the CDC suppresses counts this small, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 17.6 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, since the figure counts suicides and accidents as well as homicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 12.2 per 100,000 residents in Cambria County.

Homicide
3.6
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Firearm deaths, all intents
17.6
per 100,000 residents
Drug overdose
12.2
per 100,000 residents
Suicide
19.9
per 100,000 residents

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides, so the firearm figure and the homicide figure above it count some of the same deaths twice over. They overlap and should not be added together.

Death rates are crude rates — deaths divided by population, not adjusted for age — except where a count was too small for the CDC to publish and it modeled the rate, which the card marks. They come from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC by county and not below it. So they describe Cambria County as a whole. They are shown and not scored. How to read death rates.

What this profile does not cover

Each of these is absent for a reason, not by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them; the weighting is on the methodology page.

Reported crime
Offenses reported to police are published by department rather than by town, so AreaProfile shows a rate only on city profiles, and only where that city’s department submitted every month of a year. City profiles inside this area carry their own figure where their department reported a full year. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Taxes
Income and sales taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Property taxes are shown in the housing section but are not part of the score. The cost-of-living index above is a price level for all consumption, not a household budget, and it excludes taxes. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house.

Access

2 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest Arnold Palmer Rgnl at 40 miles.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Broadband access ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year84.9%Bottom 36%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Distance to major airportNASR current cycle40 miBottom 43%of 1,463NASR current cycle
Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle2Bottom 15%of 1,463NASR current cycle
No internet access ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year13.0%Bottom 30%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Arnold Palmer RgnlLBE40 mi8,222 ft
Pittsburgh IntlPIT80 mi11,500 ft
Harrisburg IntlMDT105 mi10,001 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
58
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource period
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)
Demographics, IncomeInternal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income Division
U.S. Population Migration Data (county to county)
filing years 2022–2023
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 Normals
Housing, IncomeU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities and county personal income
2023
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
July 2026
Access, Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-Year
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimate
SafetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
March 2025 to February 2026; May 2025 to April 2026
SchoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2018-19 school year; 2024-25 school year
HousingU.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research
Fair Market Rents
FY2026
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar year
HousingU.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency
House Price Index (traditional, all-transactions)
2026 Q2
Current conditionsNOAA National Weather Service
National Weather Service current conditions
Live observation, read when the page opens

Profile recalculated October 8, 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 every source with how often each updates.

Cities in Cambria County, PA

ZIP areas

Only ZIP areas whose income or home value differ from their city’s by at least ten percent get a profile of their own, so this is a selection rather than every ZIP code in the county.