17033Hershey, Pennsylvania

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 17033.

Area Score unavailable

Missing required signal: growth. AreaProfile withholds a score rather than inferring the missing dimensions.

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 15% of 6,210 ZIP areas measured74
SchoolsTop 1% of 4,422 ZIP areas measured94
Housing affordability4575th of 6,685 ZIP areas measured67
Climate3634th of 6,789 ZIP areas measured69
Physical resilienceTop 38% of 6,709 ZIP areas measured69
AccessTop 32% of 6,791 ZIP areas measured97
Economic stability4661st of 6,742 ZIP areas measured48
The quick read

17033 ranks in the top 15% of published ZIP profiles for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 3.9% and median household income of $72,945.

Rent takes 22% of median household income here, below the 30% threshold conventionally called cost-burdened, and the median home is 5.3 times that income.

A major airport is 9 miles away, giving the area unusually direct access to the national air network.

At a glance

Population
16,481
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$72,945
Top 48% nationally
Density
602/sq mi
27.4 sq mi of land
Median age
36.8
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
Hershey
Pennsylvania
Metro area
Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA
Nearest major airport
MDT
9 mi · Harrisburg Intl
Median home value
$384,100
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.9% is lower than 71% of the 6,544 measured US ZIP areas.

Employment grew 2.7% over the past year, to 145,693 employed residents.

47% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 86% of measured US ZIP areas.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$7,687$72,945Top 48%of 31,2952024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$3,862$45,670Top 26%of 32,8222024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate19.1%Top 20%of 32,9702024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute18.2 minBottom 9%of 32,8872024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher47.3%Top 14%of 33,1932024 ACS 5-Year
Employment145,693Top 28%of 6,544June 2026
Employment change (3 years)0.9%Top 37%of 6,542June 2026
Employment change (year over year)2.7%Top 2%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force151,590Top 28%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force participation62.7%Top 42%of 33,2522024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$63,660Bottom 31%of 6,0722025 OEWS
Median annual wage$49,610Bottom 43%of 6,0722025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.8%Bottom 10%of 6,544June 2026
Unemployment rate3.9%Bottom 29%of 6,544June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202475k66k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $72,945 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 — Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Home Health and Personal Care Aides13,040$29,050
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand11,760$43,640
Registered Nurses9,210$96,770
Stockers and Order Fillers8,240$36,790
General and Operations Managers8,180$101,890
Fast Food and Counter Workers8,030$28,070

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 Hershey, PA, the city containing this ZIP code.

67% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 79% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 12.5 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
6
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
12.5
across all schools here
Math proficiency
66.5%
Top 3% in Pennsylvania
Reading proficiency
79.2%
Top 5% in Pennsylvania
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Hershey HSDerry Township SD1,05012.4
Hershey MSDerry Township SD74211.690%
Hershey Intrmd El SchDerry Township SD47912.964%80%
Hershey Primary El SchDerry Township SD42714.272%67%
Hershey Early Childhood CtrDerry Township SD42011.7
South Hanover El SchLower Dauphin SD37113.363%71%

26.8% 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 $1,330 takes 22% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 5.3 times median household income here, well above the historic benchmark, at a level conventionally described as seriously unaffordable.

Rent as a share of income
21.9%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
5.3×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,330
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$384,100
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income5.27Top 14%of 30,4042024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate50.8%Bottom 10%of 32,9102024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±4026,772Top 23%of 33,7722024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$59$1,330Top 29%of 26,6182024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$32,550$384,100Top 22%of 30,9412024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income21.9%Top 25%of 26,4702024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate4.5%Bottom 20%of 33,0282024 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 →

No building-permit activity is published for this location by the Census Building Permits Survey.

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 48, in the Good band, and about 2 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, 8.8 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.8"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index70.02024 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 10022024 calendar year
Median air quality index48.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing47°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
48
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
70
90th percentile index
Days above 100
2
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

69 / 100
Physical resilience

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

Inland floodingModerate
HurricaneElevated
EarthquakeModerate
LandslideModerate

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

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.

Dauphin County records 4.1 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 10.4 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 Dauphin County.

Homicide
4.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
10.4
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
14.9
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
13.8
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 Dauphin 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 17033 rather than 17033 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

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

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Harrisburg IntlMDT9 mi10,001 ft
Baltimore/Washington Intl Thurgood MarshallBWI76 mi10,503 ft
Philadelphia IntlPHL78 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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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)
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.

17033 vs Hershey

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

17033
Hershey
Median household income
$72,945
vs
$78,587
Per capita income
$45,670
vs
$49,882
Population density
602/sq mi
vs
996/sq mi
Median home value
$384,100
vs
$379,200
Median gross rent
$1,330
vs
$1,268
Homeownership rate
50.8%
vs
53.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher
47.3%
vs
50.2%
Poverty rate
19.1%
vs
17.6%
Median age
36.8
vs
38.6

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.