Pottsville, Pennsylvania

Area Profile

13,364 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Pottsville, in Schuylkill County.

59out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 43% of 2,944 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity2191st of 3,904 cities measured53
Schools1703rd of 2,668 cities measured41
Growth2483rd of 2,973 cities measured29
Housing affordabilityTop 9% of 4,223 cities measured100
Climate2338th of 4,223 cities measured69
Physical resilienceTop 44% of 4,182 cities measured64
Access3613th of 4,226 cities measured73
Economic stability3755th of 4,226 cities measured34
The quick read

Unemployment is 4.8% and median household income $54,332, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published city profiles.

In the public schools here, 19% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 14.2 students for every teacher.

Housing is more affordable relative to local incomes than in most published city profiles: rent takes 18% of median household income and the median home is 1.8 times it.

At a glance

Population
13,364
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$54,332
Bottom 30% nationally
Density
3,208/sq mi
4.2 sq mi of land
Median age
43.4
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Schuylkill County
Pennsylvania
Metro area
Pottsville, PA
Nearest major airport
MDT
44 mi · Harrisburg Intl
Median home value
$100,500
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.8% is lower than 32% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment grew 2.4% over the past year, to 64,671 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$8,722$54,332Bottom 30%of 29,5732024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,176$30,888Bottom 40%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate19.9%Top 24%of 31,9002024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute23.9 minBottom 35%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher21.9%Top 46%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Employment64,671Top 45%of 3,904June 2026
Employment change (3 years)1.4%Top 29%of 3,903June 2026
Employment change (year over year)2.4%Top 4%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force67,942Top 45%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force participation59.1%Bottom 45%of 31,9332024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.5%Bottom 17%of 3,904June 2026
Unemployment rate4.8%Top 32%of 3,904June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202454k40k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $54,332 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 Schuylkill County, PA, which contains this city.

19% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 47% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 14.2 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
6
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
14.2
across all schools here
Math proficiency
19.2%
Bottom 29% in Pennsylvania
Reading proficiency
47.2%
Bottom 41% in Pennsylvania
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Pottsville Area HSPottsville Area SD97617.4
Clarke El CtrPottsville Area SD89213.125%50%
Lengel MSPottsville Area SD72013.624%44%
Minersville Area JSHSMinersville Area SD48114.13%47%
Gillingham Charter School · charterGillingham Charter School23310.6
Early Childhood Edu CtrMinersville Area SD10116.8

73.8% 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 $822 takes 18% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 1.8 times median household income here, close to the historic benchmark for an affordable market.

Rent as a share of income
18.2%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
1.8×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$822
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$100,500
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income1.85Bottom 19%of 28,4732024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate57.1%Bottom 16%of 31,8432024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±3606,972Top 9%of 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$54$822Bottom 31%of 23,4322024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$16,002$100,500Bottom 19%of 29,3422024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income18.2%Bottom 47%of 23,2012024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate13.9%Top 37%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
29/ 100
Ranks 2483 of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is broadly steady, 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 been broadly flat since 2020, at 13,404 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
2020202120222023202413k13k
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
20222023202420250.00.0
Annual totals from 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 45.2 inches.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station READING SPAATZ FLD, 25.1 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.9"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation45.2"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low23°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high87°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months61991-2020 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

64 / 100
Physical resilience

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

Inland floodingModerate
LandslideModerate
HurricaneModerate

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

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.

Schuylkill County records 20.2 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, higher than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Drug overdose deaths run at 7.7 per 100,000 residents in Schuylkill County.

Homicide
20.2
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
16.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
7.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
18.1
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 Schuylkill 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 Pottsville rather than Pottsville 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

2 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 44 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Harrisburg IntlMDT44 mi10,001 ft
Philadelphia IntlPHL76 mi12,000 ft
Baltimore/Washington Intl Thurgood MarshallBWI107 mi10,503 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
59
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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
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 Pottsville

1 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
1790122,371$62,48460