Plum, Pennsylvania

Area Profile

26,723 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Plum, in Allegheny County.

75out of 100
Area Score
Top 8% of 2,944 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 2% of 3,904 published cities86
SchoolsTop 28% of 2,668 published cities69
Growth2397th of 2,973 published cities32
Housing affordabilityTop 8% of 4,223 published cities100
Climate2782nd of 4,223 published cities65
Physical resilienceTop 20% of 4,182 published cities82
Access2514th of 4,226 published cities89
Economic stabilityTop 14% of 4,226 published cities76
The quick read

Plum ranks in the top 2% of published city profiles for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 3.2% and median household income of $98,705.

Residential permitting has slowed: 26 units authorized over the past twelve months, 54% below the prior year.

Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published city profiles, placing Plum in the top 20% for physical resilience.

At a glance

Population
26,723
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$98,705
Top 19% nationally
Density
935/sq mi
28.6 sq mi of land
Median age
44.4
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Allegheny County
Pennsylvania
Metro area
Pittsburgh, PA
Nearest major airport
LBE
24 mi · Arnold Palmer Rgnl
Median home value
$227,600
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

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

Employment grew 2.4% over the past year, to 14,189 employed residents.

45% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 85% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$4,362$98,705Top 19%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,236$48,609Top 19%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate3.6%Bottom 17%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute32.6 minTop 23%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher45.0%Top 15%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment14,189Bottom 12%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)1.3%Top 31%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)2.4%Top 4%June 2026
Labor force14,659Bottom 12%June 2026
Labor force participation67.5%Top 25%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$65,230Bottom 33%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$49,650Bottom 38%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)0.3%Top 37%June 2026
Unemployment rate3.2%Bottom 8%June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/065.62.4
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 3.2% 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
202120222023202499k85k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $98,705 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 — Pittsburgh, PA
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Home Health and Personal Care Aides37,200$29,250
General and Operations Managers31,020$100,840
Registered Nurses29,360$82,370
Retail Salespersons28,700$30,840
Fast Food and Counter Workers27,460$28,250
Cashiers20,950$29,470

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.

44% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 63% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 16.3 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
6
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
16.3
across all schools here
Math proficiency
44.5%
Top 24% in Pennsylvania
Reading proficiency
63.1%
Top 25% in Pennsylvania
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Plum SHSPlum Borough SD1,22017.7
Pivik El SchPlum Borough SD74018.057%70%
Plum MSPlum Borough SD55016.722%52%
Holiday Park Intermediate SchPlum Borough SD51316.042%62%
O'Block El SchPlum Borough SD51214.651%67%
Verner El SchRiverview SD1609.451%64%

36.2% 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 $1,177 takes 14% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 2.3 times median household income here, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
14.3%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
2.3×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,177
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$227,600
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income2.31Bottom 32%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate80.7%Top 40%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±33411,533Top 5%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$55$1,177Top 34%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$6,548$227,600Top 40%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income14.3%Bottom 20%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate5.6%Bottom 32%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
32/ 100
Ranks 2397 of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is increasing — 3 consecutive years, 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 fallen 3% since 2020, reaching 26,420 in 2024.

Permit activity has risen for 3 consecutive years.

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

At 1.0 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
26
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
1.0
Bottom 31% nationally
Year over year
−54%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202427k26k
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
20222023202420255321
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2022 (+152%).

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 83°F and January a low of 22°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 41.3 inches.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station PITTSBURGH ALLEGHENY CO AP, 13.7 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.6"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation41.3"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low22°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high83°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

82 / 100
Physical resilience

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

Inland floodingModerate

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

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.

Allegheny County records 5.3 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 10.9 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 26.6 per 100,000 residents in Allegheny County.

Homicide
5.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
10.9
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
26.6
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
14.1
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 Allegheny 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 Plum rather than Plum 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

4 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 24 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Arnold Palmer RgnlLBE24 mi8,222 ft
Pittsburgh IntlPIT25 mi11,500 ft
Youngstown/Warren RgnlYNG72 mi9,003 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
75
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Other cities in Pittsburgh, PA

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
PittsburghAllegheny County304,75972vs Plum
Bethel ParkAllegheny County32,88181vs Plum
MonroevilleAllegheny County28,29575vs Plum
Allison ParkAllegheny County22,045vs Plum
New CastleLawrence County21,57951vs Plum
BaldwinAllegheny County21,05772vs Plum
MurrysvilleWestmoreland County20,81780vs Plum
West MifflinAllegheny County19,19064vs Plum
McKeesportAllegheny County17,38055vs Plum
Franklin ParkAllegheny County15,23582vs Plum
WhitehallAllegheny County14,81172vs Plum
GreensburgWestmoreland County14,74172vs Plum

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.

Compare

Put Plum side by side with a similar place.

Plum vs MarysvillePlum vs MackPlum vs TwinsburgPlum vs Canal Winchester

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.

ZIP codes in Plum

2 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
1523921,410$101,04575
1514715,798$66,75770