18701 — Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
Area Profile
Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 18701.
Employment conditions sit below most comparable published ZIP profiles: unemployment is 6.0% and the Opportunity signal places 18701 in the bottom 23%.
Housing costs more relative to local incomes than in most published city profiles: rent takes 32% of median household income and the median home is 6.1 times it.
A typical July reaches 85°F and a typical January falls to 20°F, on thirty-year normals.
At a glance
Jobs & opportunity
Unemployment of 6.0% is lower than 8% of the 6,544 measured US ZIP areas.
Employment grew 2.6% over the past year, to 19,695 employed residents.
Median household income of $33,329 is below 97% of measured US ZIP areas.
| Metric | Value | Compared with peers | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income ±$3,699 | $33,329 | Bottom 3% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Per capita income ±$4,339 | $18,702 | Bottom 4% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Poverty rate | 20.0% | Top 18% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Average commute | 22.4 min | Bottom 22% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Bachelor's degree or higher | 24.1% | Top 47% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Employment | 19,695 | Bottom 19% | June 2026 |
| Employment change (3 years) | 1.9% | Top 26% | June 2026 |
| Employment change (year over year) | 2.6% | Top 3% | June 2026 |
| Labor force | 20,961 | Bottom 19% | June 2026 |
| Labor force participation | 38.4% | Bottom 7% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Mean annual wage | $56,800 | Bottom 9% | 2025 OEWS |
| Median annual wage | $46,330 | Bottom 13% | 2025 OEWS |
| Unemployment change (year over year) | 0.9% | Top 7% | June 2026 |
| Unemployment rate | 6.0% | Top 8% | June 2026 |
| Occupation | People employed | Median annual wage |
|---|---|---|
| Stockers and Order Fillers | 10,250 | $37,410 |
| Home Health and Personal Care Aides | 9,970 | $29,460 |
| Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand | 9,630 | $42,900 |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | 6,450 | $27,520 |
| Retail Salespersons | 6,330 | $30,020 |
| General and Operations Managers | 6,010 | $93,820 |
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 Wilkes-Barre, PA, the city containing this ZIP code.
Housing & affordability
How it’s calculated →Median rent of $902 takes 32% of median household income, above the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.
A median home costs 6.1 times median household income here, well above the historic benchmark, at a level conventionally described as seriously unaffordable.
| Metric | Value | Compared with peers | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home price to income | 6.11 | Top 9% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Homeownership rate | 7.8% | Bottom 1% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Housing units ±217 | 1,630 | Top 46% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median gross rent ±$145 | $902 | Bottom 37% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median home value ±$150,743 | $203,600 | Bottom 45% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Rent as a share of income | 32.5% | Top 3% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Vacancy rate | 23.4% | Top 21% | 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 →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.
83% of recently permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes, so new supply is concentrated in apartments and condominiums rather than detached houses.
At 0.1 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US ZIP areas.
The Building Permits Survey is not published for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Wilkes-Barre, 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 85°F and January a low of 20°F.
Normal annual precipitation is 38.7 inches, including 45.1 inches of snow.
| Metric | Value | Source period |
|---|---|---|
| Annual precipitation | 38.7" | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Annual snowfall | 45.1" | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average January low | 20°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average July high | 85°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Comfortable months | 5 | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Seasonal temperature swing | 46°F | 1991-2020 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
The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding and hurricane.
Low or minimal exposure: winter weather, lightning, cold wave, heat wave, earthquake, ice storm, tornado, strong wind, landslide, 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.
Safety
How it’s measured →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.
Luzerne County records 2.5 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 12.5 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.
Drug overdose deaths run at 19.2 per 100,000 residents in Luzerne County.
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 Luzerne 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 18701 rather than 18701 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 82 miles away.
| Airport | Code | Distance | Longest runway |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elmira/Corning Rgnl | ELM | 82 mi | 8,001 ft |
| Harrisburg Intl | MDT | 86 mi | 10,001 ft |
| New York Stewart Intl | SWF | 94 mi | 11,817 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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Similar places
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Data & methodology
| Used for | Source | Source period | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access | Federal Aviation Administration Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service | NASR current cycle | 28-day NASR cycle |
| Physical risk | Federal Emergency Management Agency National Risk Index | National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0) | Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current) |
| Climate | NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly) | 1991-2020 Normals | Every ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period) |
| Jobs | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Local Area Unemployment Statistics | June 2026 | Monthly |
| Jobs | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics | 2025 OEWS | Annual (spring release) |
| Demographics | U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program | July 1, 2024 estimate | Annual (vintage released each spring) |
| Development | U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey | 12 months ending July 2026 | Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month |
| Demographics, Housing, Income, Jobs | U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File) | 2024 ACS 5-Year | Annual (5-year estimates released each December) |
| safety | U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics Provisional county-level mortality by intent | April, 2025 to March, 2026 | Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years |
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.
18701 vs Wilkes-Barre
How this ZIP area compares with Wilkes-Barre as a whole. Both figures come from the same ACS release, so the comparison is like for like.
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.