Meadville, Pennsylvania

Area Profile

12,577 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Meadville, in Crawford County.

57out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 38% of 2,944 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity2138th of 3,904 cities measured54
SchoolsTop 46% of 2,668 cities measured55
Growth2957th of 2,973 cities measured6
Housing affordabilityTop 39% of 4,223 cities measured87
Climate3314th of 4,223 cities measured62
Physical resilienceTop 31% of 4,182 cities measured75
Access2882nd of 4,226 cities measured86
Economic stability4064th of 4,226 cities measured26
The quick read

Unemployment is 3.9% and median household income $43,308, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published city profiles.

In the public schools here, 27% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 11.9 students for every teacher.

Rent takes 24% of median household income here, below the 30% threshold conventionally called cost-burdened, and the median home is 2.7 times that income.

At a glance

Population
12,577
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$43,308
Bottom 14% nationally
Density
2,883/sq mi
4.4 sq mi of land
Median age
34.8
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Crawford County
Pennsylvania
Metro area
Meadville, PA
Nearest major airport
ERI
30 mi · Erie Intl/Tom Ridge Fld
Median home value
$116,400
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.9% is lower than 66% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment grew 4.1% over the past year, to 36,447 employed residents.

Median household income of $43,308 is below 86% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$7,297$43,308Bottom 14%of 29,5732024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$4,109$25,450Bottom 21%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate22.3%Top 19%of 31,9002024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute15.9 minBottom 7%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher22.7%Top 45%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Employment36,447Bottom 43%of 3,904June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-1.7%Bottom 23%of 3,903June 2026
Employment change (year over year)4.1%Top 1%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force37,915Bottom 43%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force participation49.6%Bottom 21%of 31,9332024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.7%Bottom 13%of 3,904June 2026
Unemployment rate3.9%Bottom 34%of 3,904June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202446k41k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $43,308 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.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for Crawford County, PA, which contains this city.

27% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 48% 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
7
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
11.9
across all schools here
Math proficiency
27.1%
Bottom 49% in Pennsylvania
Reading proficiency
47.8%
Bottom 42% in Pennsylvania
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Meadville Area SHSCrawford Central SD70814.4
Meadville MSCrawford Central SD34011.012%47%
First District El SchCrawford Central SD33412.440%51%
Neason Hill El SchCrawford Central SD33315.118%45%
Second District El SchCrawford Central SD31612.623%42%
West End El SchCrawford Central SD31012.444%55%
Crawford County Career and Technical CenterCrawford County Career & Technical Center160.8

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 $855 takes 24% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 2.7 times median household income here, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
23.7%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.7×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$855
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$116,400
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income2.69Bottom 43%of 28,4732024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate34.0%Bottom 3%of 31,8432024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±3705,392Top 11%of 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$67$855Bottom 36%of 23,4322024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$18,283$116,400Bottom 26%of 29,3422024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income23.7%Top 22%of 23,2012024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate12.1%Top 42%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
6/ 100
Ranks 2957 of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is broadly steady, measured from 2020 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 fallen 5% since 2020, reaching 12,347 in 2024.

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

Units permitted
0
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
0.0
Bottom 1% nationally
Year over year
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202413k12k
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
2020202120222023202420250.00.0
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey.

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 80°F and January a low of 18°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 41.4 inches.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station PORT MEADVILLE AP, 3.8 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.9"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation41.4"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low18°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high80°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing45°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

75 / 100
Physical resilience

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

Winter weatherModerate
Strong windElevated
HurricaneModerate
TornadoModerate
Heat waveModerate

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

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
534
per 100,000 residents · 2025 calendar year
Property crime
1,143
per 100,000 residents · 2025 calendar year

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

Meadville's police department reported 534 violent offences per 100,000 residents, higher than most places with a department reporting. Property crime runs at 1,143.

Crawford County records 0.0 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 12.9 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 30.5 per 100,000 residents in Crawford County.

Homicide
0.0
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
12.9
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
30.5
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
14.6
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.

Offences are reported to the FBI by Meadville’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 Crawford 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 Meadville rather than Meadville 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.

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

5 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 30 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Erie Intl/Tom Ridge FldERI30 mi8,420 ft
Youngstown/Warren RgnlYNG38 mi9,003 ft
Pittsburgh IntlPIT80 mi11,500 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
57
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Put Meadville side by side with a similar place.

Meadville vs ShilohMeadville vs SharonMeadville vs SalemMeadville vs Butler

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)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
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.

ZIP codes in Meadville

1 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
1633527,175$57,59161