Easton, Pennsylvania

Area Profile

29,739 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Easton, in Northampton County.

61out of 100
Area Score
Top 48% of 2,943 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Data updated · 14 sources
OpportunityTop 32% of 3,899 cities measured65
Schools1,662nd of 2,668 cities measured42
Growth2,196th of 2,973 cities measured36
Housing affordabilityTop 35% of 4,147 cities measured89
Climate2,832nd of 4,223 cities measured64
Physical resilienceTop 43% of 4,182 cities measured65
Access3,681st of 4,226 cities measured71
Economic stability3,034th of 4,226 cities measured48
The quick read

Unemployment is 4.7% and median household income $69,348, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published city profiles.

In the public schools here, 22% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 12.7 students for every teacher.

Residential permitting has slowed: 1 units authorized over the past twelve months, 50% below the prior year.

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
29,739
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$69,348
Top 47% nationally
Density
6,976/sq mi
4.3 sq mi of land
Median age
31.6
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Northampton County
Pennsylvania
Metro area
Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ
Nearest major airport
EWR
55 mi · Newark Liberty Intl
Median home value
$196,300
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.7% is lower than 36% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment grew 3.3% over the past year, to 15,546 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$6,783$69,348Top 47%of 29,4632024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,834$29,811Bottom 36%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate16.3%Top 32%of 31,9002024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute28.5 minTop 41%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher28.2%Top 33%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Employment15,546Bottom 16%of 3,904June 2026
Employment change (3 years)3.6%Top 11%of 3,903June 2026
Employment change (year over year)3.3%Top 1%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force16,321Bottom 16%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force participation63.7%Top 39%of 31,9332024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$64,090Bottom 27%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Median annual wage$48,990Bottom 34%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)0.7%Top 19%of 3,904June 2026
Unemployment rate4.7%Top 36%of 3,904June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/067.53.0
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 4.7% in June 2026. 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
202120222023202469k58k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $69,348 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 — Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand14,840$42,380
Home Health and Personal Care Aides12,030$30,380
Registered Nurses10,860$101,440
Stockers and Order Fillers9,880$38,950
Fast Food and Counter Workers9,110$29,090
Retail Salespersons9,060$32,310

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.

22% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 42% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 12.7 students for every full-time teacher across 9 public schools, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
9
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
12.7
across all schools here
Math proficiency
21.9%
Bottom 33% in Pennsylvania
Reading proficiency
42.4%
Bottom 30% in Pennsylvania
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Wilson Area HSWilson Area SD70915.4
Wilson Area Intermediate SchWilson Area SD64313.115%58%
Paxinosa El SchEaston Area SD57211.410%16%
Cheston El SchEaston Area SD55913.023%29%
March El SchEaston Area SD29611.433%48%
Wilson Borough El SchWilson Area SD28511.938%51%
Easton Arts Academy Elementary CS · charterEaston Arts Academy Elementary CS2549.814%41%
Williams Township El SchWilson Area SD24913.140%70%
Avona El SchWilson Area SD20515.825%50%

71.7% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Pennsylvania’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Prices for everything a household buys run about 1% below the national average — the Bureau of Economic Analysis index reads 98.9, against 100 for the nation. Housing drives most of that difference.

A new two-bedroom lease runs about $1,670, some 26% above the $1,325 tenants already here pay — the market has moved faster than sitting tenancies have.

Median rent of $1,325 takes 23% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home at $196,300 costs 2.8 times the median household income of $69,348, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Cost of living
98.9

Prices here run about 1% below the national average. The spread between places is driven mostly by housing — goods vary far less — and this excludes taxes.

Rent as a share of income
22.9%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.8×
median home value ÷ median income
Market rent, two bedroom
$1,670
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$1,325
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$196,300
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Cost of living index98.9Bottom 41%of 3,6582023
Home price to income2.83Bottom 48%of 27,9722024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate44.5%Bottom 6%of 31,7172024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±45611,364Top 5%of 32,1772024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroom$1,370Bottom 47%of 4,067FY2026
Market rent, three bedroom$2,130Bottom 48%of 4,067FY2026
Market rent, two bedroom$1,670Bottom 49%of 4,067FY2026
Median gross rent ±$57$1,325Top 27%of 23,3292024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$15,999$196,300Top 48%of 29,3422024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income22.9%Top 25%of 22,8042024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate8.9%Bottom 46%of 31,8722024 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
36/ 100
Ranks 2,196 of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting has been falling for the last 3 years of a series running from 2022 to 2025. That is the direction of the recent run, not a comparison of the two endpoints.

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 grown 8% since 2020, reaching 30,432 in 2024.

Permit activity fell in each of the 3 calendar years through 2025.

New construction is predominantly single-family: of 1 units permitted over the past twelve months, none were in buildings of five or more homes.

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

Units permitted
1
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
0.0
Bottom 6% nationally
Year over year
−50%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202430k28k
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
2022202320242025170.0
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2022 (−100%).

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 86°F and January a low of 22°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 47.4 inches, including 33.1 inches of snow.

Air quality measures a median index of 39, in the Good band, and one day a year passes 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station ALLENTOWN INTL AP, 12.3 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND5.3"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index58.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation47.4"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall33.1"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low22°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high86°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10012024 calendar year
Median air quality index39.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing45°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
39
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
58
90th percentile index
Days above 100
1
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. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today. Air quality is measured rather than modeled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — a little over half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and about a fifth of all US counties do, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

65 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, hurricane and earthquake, with inland flooding alone responsible for 70% of it.

Inland floodingModerate
LightningModerate
HurricaneModerate
EarthquakeModerate
Strong windModerate
LandslideModerate

Low or minimal exposure: winter weather, heat wave, cold wave, tornado, ice storm, drought, avalanche, wildfire, hail, coastal flooding.

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.

Violent crime
167
per 100,000 residents · 2025 calendar year
Property crime
673
per 100,000 residents · 2025 calendar year

Below these are deaths rather than offenses, published for the county. The two measure different things and are not comparable with each other.

Easton's police department reported 167 violent offenses per 100,000 residents, near the middle of places with a department reporting. Property crime runs at 673.

Northampton County records 1.6 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 7.5 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 10.7 per 100,000 residents in Northampton County.

Homicide
1.6
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
7.5
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
10.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
11.6
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.

Offenses are reported to the FBI by Easton’s own police department, for the population it serves, and are shown only where it reported every month of the year — a partial year is withheld rather than scaled up. Reported crime counts what was reported to and recorded by police, which is not the same as what happened, and a place that draws a large daytime workforce carries incidents its residents did not generate. Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Northampton County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city center and a quiet suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Easton rather than Easton 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

Some things people look for are not on this page, and each is absent for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Taxes
Taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Cost of living now is — the index above is the Bureau of Economic Analysis price parity for this area — but it is a price level for all consumption rather than a budget for a household, its spread is driven mostly by housing, and it excludes taxes. Housing affordability is computed separately from rent, price and income, because that answers a narrower and more actionable question. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house. School attendance zones, insurance pricing and the character of a neighborhood all vary within the places measured here.

Access

6 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest Newark Liberty Intl at 55 miles.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Newark Liberty IntlEWR55 mi9,999 ft
Philadelphia IntlPHL56 mi12,000 ft
John F Kennedy IntlJFK76 mi14,511 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
61
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Other cities in Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
AllentownLehigh County125,97660vs Easton
BethlehemNorthampton County77,95665vs Easton
FullertonLehigh County16,724vs Easton
PhillipsburgWarren County15,29961vs Easton
EmmausLehigh County11,88971vs Easton
NorthamptonNorthampton County10,40066vs Easton
HackettstownWarren County10,14068vs Easton

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.

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
SafetyFederal Bureau of Investigation, Crime Data Explorer
Summarized offense counts by law enforcement agency
2025 calendar yearAnnually, with monthly revisions
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)
HousingU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities and county personal income
2023Annually, each December
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)
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)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
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
SchoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them
HousingU.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research
Fair Market Rents
FY2026Annually, each October for the coming fiscal year
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

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.

ZIP codes in Easton

1 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
1804245,532$77,55663