16504Erie, Pennsylvania

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 16504.

62out of 100
Area Score
Top 43% of 5,298 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity3238th of 6,210 published ZIP areas54
Schools3611th of 4,422 published ZIP areas26
Growth3879th of 5,428 published ZIP areas37
Housing affordabilityTop 31% of 6,685 published ZIP areas90
Climate4578th of 6,789 published ZIP areas64
Physical resilienceTop 10% of 6,709 published ZIP areas90
AccessTop 32% of 6,791 published ZIP areas97
Economic stability5059th of 6,742 published ZIP areas44
The quick read

Unemployment is 4.7% and median household income $56,622, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published ZIP profiles.

Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published ZIP profiles, placing 16504 in the top 10% for physical resilience.

A major airport is 7 miles away, giving the area unusually direct access to the national air network.

At a glance

Population
15,931
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$56,622
Bottom 24% nationally
Density
5,776/sq mi
2.8 sq mi of land
Median age
36.3
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
Erie
Pennsylvania
Metro area
Erie, PA
Nearest major airport
ERI
7 mi · Erie Intl/Tom Ridge Fld
Median home value
$116,400
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.7% is lower than 40% of the 6,544 measured US ZIP areas.

Employment grew 2.3% over the past year, to 41,205 employed residents.

Median household income of $56,622 is below 76% of measured US ZIP areas.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$6,748$56,622Bottom 24%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,578$29,939Bottom 27%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate13.8%Top 36%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute19.8 minBottom 13%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher25.7%Top 44%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment41,205Bottom 41%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)0.9%Top 38%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)2.3%Top 4%June 2026
Labor force43,218Bottom 41%June 2026
Labor force participation58.4%Bottom 42%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$55,110Bottom 6%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$44,460Bottom 6%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)0.3%Top 40%June 2026
Unemployment rate4.7%Top 40%June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202457k44k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $56,622 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 — Erie, PA
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Home Health and Personal Care Aides6,640$27,860
Fast Food and Counter Workers3,510$26,540
Retail Salespersons3,340$28,610
Registered Nurses3,060$80,000
General and Operations Managers2,840$89,840
Cashiers2,610$28,340

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 does not publish labor-force data for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Erie, PA, the city containing this ZIP code.

8% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 23% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 11.9 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
3
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
11.9
across all schools here
Math proficiency
7.7%
Bottom 9% in Pennsylvania
Reading proficiency
22.5%
Bottom 12% in Pennsylvania
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Woodrow Wilson MSErie City SD76912.88%22%
Jefferson El SchErie City SD44712.18%18%
Lincoln El SchErie City SD34710.27%29%

96.9% 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 $1,048 takes 22% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 2.1 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
2.1×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,048
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$116,400
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income2.06Bottom 17%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate72.2%Bottom 34%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±4907,049Top 22%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$86$1,048Top 47%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$6,930$116,400Bottom 16%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income22.2%Top 24%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate8.1%Bottom 38%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
37/ 100
Ranks 3879 of 5,428 published city profiles

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.

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

At 0.1 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US ZIP areas.

Units permitted
8
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
0.1
Bottom 6% nationally
Year over year
0%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings

The Building Permits Survey is not published for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Erie, PA, the city containing this ZIP code.

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 81°F and January a low of 21°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 43.0 inches, including 104.3 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 ERIE INTL AP, 7.1 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.4"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation43.0"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall104.3"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low21°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high81°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

90 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are strong wind, winter weather and hurricane.

Winter weatherModerate
Strong windModerate
HurricaneModerate
Cold waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: lightning, inland flooding, ice storm, tornado, earthquake, hail, landslide, heat wave, wildfire, coastal flooding.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. ZIP values are the land-area-weighted mean of the counties the ZIP Code Tabulation Area intersects. Expected annual loss is not allocated below county level. 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.

Erie County records 1.9 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 14.2 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 14.9 per 100,000 residents in Erie County.

Homicide
1.9
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
14.2
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
14.9
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
19.8
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 Erie 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 16504 rather than 16504 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

3 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 7 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Erie Intl/Tom Ridge FldERI7 mi8,420 ft
Youngstown/Warren RgnlYNG67 mi9,003 ft
Buffalo Niagara IntlBUF88 mi8,829 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
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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

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.

16504 vs Erie

How this ZIP area compares with Erie as a whole. Both figures come from the same ACS release, so the comparison is like for like.

16504
Erie
Median household income
$56,622
vs
$46,113
Per capita income
$29,939
vs
$27,339
Population density
5,776/sq mi
vs
4,905/sq mi
Median home value
$116,400
vs
$115,200
Median gross rent
$1,048
vs
$870
Homeownership rate
72.2%
vs
54.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher
25.7%
vs
23.1%
Poverty rate
13.8%
vs
23.3%
Median age
36.3
vs
34.8

Some demographic statistics use Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas, which approximate but do not exactly match USPS ZIP delivery geography. See the methodology for how AreaProfile maps between them.