Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania

Area Profile

11,925 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Elizabethtown, in Lancaster County.

71out of 100
Area Score
Top 15% of 2,944 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 7% of 3,904 cities measured81
SchoolsTop 26% of 2,668 cities measured71
Growth2359th of 2,973 cities measured33
Housing affordabilityTop 14% of 4,223 cities measured97
Climate2338th of 4,223 cities measured69
Physical resilienceTop 45% of 4,182 cities measured64
AccessTop 19% of 4,226 cities measured98
Economic stabilityTop 22% of 4,226 cities measured73
The quick read

Elizabethtown ranks in the top 7% of published city profiles for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 3.2% and median household income of $76,105.

Residential permitting has slowed: 2 units authorized over the past twelve months, 83% below the prior year.

Housing is more affordable relative to local incomes than in most published city profiles: rent takes 19% of median household income and the median home is 3.1 times it.

At a glance

Population
11,925
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$76,105
Top 38% nationally
Density
4,497/sq mi
2.7 sq mi of land
Median age
34.9
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Lancaster County
Pennsylvania
Metro area
Lancaster, PA
Nearest major airport
MDT
9 mi · Harrisburg Intl
Median home value
$238,700
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.2% is lower than 92% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment grew 3.3% over the past year, to 290,048 employed residents.

31% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 71% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$9,005$76,105Top 38%of 29,5732024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$5,429$40,293Top 32%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate7.6%Bottom 36%of 31,9002024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute24.0 minBottom 35%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher31.4%Top 29%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Employment290,048Top 23%of 3,904June 2026
Employment change (3 years)1.3%Top 30%of 3,903June 2026
Employment change (year over year)3.3%Top 1%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force299,526Top 23%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force participation67.6%Top 25%of 31,9332024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$59,620Bottom 14%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Median annual wage$48,210Bottom 24%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.5%Bottom 17%of 3,904June 2026
Unemployment rate3.2%Bottom 8%of 3,904June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202476k62k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $76,105 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 — Lancaster, PA
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Retail Salespersons7,400$30,280
General and Operations Managers6,990$98,810
Home Health and Personal Care Aides6,990$29,150
Fast Food and Counter Workers6,870$28,580
Stockers and Order Fillers5,860$36,400
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand5,730$42,440

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 Lancaster County, PA, which contains this city.

43% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 61% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 14.9 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
5
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
14.9
across all schools here
Math proficiency
42.6%
Top 25% in Pennsylvania
Reading proficiency
60.8%
Top 29% in Pennsylvania
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Elizabethtown Area SHSElizabethtown Area SD1,26317.1
Elizabethtown Area MSElizabethtown Area SD82713.622%52%
Bear Creek SchoolElizabethtown Area SD75014.250%64%
East High Street El SchElizabethtown Area SD46614.657%67%
Conewago El SchLower Dauphin SD23913.364%68%

41.8% 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 →

Median rent of $1,174 takes 19% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 3.1 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
18.5%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.1×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,174
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$238,700
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income3.14Top 44%of 28,4732024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate58.2%Bottom 18%of 31,8432024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±2264,679Top 12%of 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$86$1,174Top 34%of 23,4322024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$13,839$238,700Top 38%of 29,3422024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income18.5%Top 50%of 23,2012024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate1.9%Bottom 15%of 32,0012024 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
33/ 100
Ranks 2359 of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is decreasing, measured from 2022 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 grown 3% since 2020, reaching 11,993 in 2024.

Permitting has turned downward after moving the other way the year before.

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 0% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 0.2 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
2
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
0.2
Bottom 11% nationally
Year over year
−83%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202412k12k
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
2022202320242025210.0
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2022 (+38%).

Weather & climate

6 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 87°F and January a low of 23°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 44.2 inches, including 29.9 inches of snow.

Air quality measures a median index of 50, in the Good band, and about 3 days a year pass 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 MIDDLETOWN HARRISBURG INTL AP, 9.1 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.8"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index69.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation44.2"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall29.9"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low23°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high87°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months61991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10032024 calendar year
Median air quality index50.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing47°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
50
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
69
90th percentile index
Days above 100
3
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 modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, 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

64 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, hurricane and earthquake.

Inland floodingModerate
HurricaneElevated
Heat waveModerate
EarthquakeModerate
LandslideModerate

Low or minimal exposure: winter weather, lightning, strong wind, cold wave, tornado, drought, ice storm, hail, wildfire, avalanche.

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.

Lancaster County records 1.4 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 8.1 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 5.4 per 100,000 residents in Lancaster County.

Homicide
1.4
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
8.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
5.4
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
13.2
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 Lancaster 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 Elizabethtown rather than Elizabethtown 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
Offences reported to police are published by department rather than by town, and only where a department reported every month of the year. No municipal department reports for this place — many smaller communities are policed by the county — so there is no figure to show. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Taxes and full cost of living
No public source publishes either with national coverage and a method open enough to check. 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. Nothing here is individualised 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 neighbourhood all vary within the places measured here.

Access

4 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 9 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Harrisburg IntlMDT9 mi10,001 ft
Baltimore/Washington Intl Thurgood MarshallBWI68 mi10,503 ft
Philadelphia IntlPHL74 mi12,000 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
71
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Other cities in Lancaster, PA

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
LancasterLancaster County57,71965vs Elizabethtown
EphrataLancaster County13,77271vs Elizabethtown
ColumbiaLancaster County10,27864vs Elizabethtown

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
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
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
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 Elizabethtown

1 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
1702231,908$86,76771