15221Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 15221.

61out of 100
Area Score
Top 45% of 5,298 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 18% of 6,210 ZIP areas measured71
Schools3714th of 4,422 ZIP areas measured25
Growth5115th of 5,428 ZIP areas measured18
Housing affordabilityTop 32% of 6,685 ZIP areas measured90
Climate4377th of 6,789 ZIP areas measured65
Physical resilienceTop 22% of 6,709 ZIP areas measured81
Access3582nd of 6,791 ZIP areas measured92
Economic stability5336th of 6,742 ZIP areas measured41
The quick read

15221 ranks in the top 18% of published ZIP profiles for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 3.6% and median household income of $55,028.

Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published ZIP profiles, placing 15221 in the top 22% for physical resilience.

A major airport is 20 miles away, giving the area unusually direct access to the national air network.

At a glance

Population
29,374
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$55,028
Bottom 22% nationally
Density
4,730/sq mi
6.2 sq mi of land
Median age
39.0
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
Wilkinsburg
Pennsylvania
Metro area
Pittsburgh, PA
Nearest major airport
PIT
20 mi · Pittsburgh Intl
Median home value
$171,300
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.6% is lower than 83% of the 6,544 measured US ZIP areas.

Employment grew 2.4% over the past year, to 635,089 employed residents.

42% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 81% of measured US ZIP areas.

Median household income of $55,028 is below 78% of measured US ZIP areas.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$5,136$55,028Bottom 22%of 31,2952024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$3,045$40,791Top 37%of 32,8222024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate19.2%Top 20%of 32,9702024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute30.1 minTop 37%of 32,8872024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher41.8%Top 19%of 33,1932024 ACS 5-Year
Employment635,089Top 9%of 6,544June 2026
Employment change (3 years)1.7%Top 28%of 6,542June 2026
Employment change (year over year)2.4%Top 3%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force659,117Top 9%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force participation65.2%Top 32%of 33,2522024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$65,230Bottom 39%of 6,0722025 OEWS
Median annual wage$49,650Bottom 43%of 6,0722025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.6%Bottom 14%of 6,544June 2026
Unemployment rate3.6%Bottom 17%of 6,544June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202455k47k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $55,028 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.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish labor-force data for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Wilkinsburg, PA, the city containing this ZIP code.

7% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 19% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 11.7 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
4
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
11.7
across all schools here
Math proficiency
6.7%
Bottom 8% in Pennsylvania
Reading proficiency
18.9%
Bottom 8% in Pennsylvania
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Woodland Hills HSWoodland Hills SD1,00615.0
Propel CS-Braddock Hills · charterPropel CS-Braddock Hills67311.04%17%
Kelly Primary SchWilkinsburg Borough SD2769.2
Turner Intermediate SchWilkinsburg Borough SD2007.717%25%

87.4% 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 →

Prices for everything a household buys run about 5% below the national average, on the Bureau of Economic Analysis index. Housing drives most of that difference.

Median rent of $997 takes 22% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 3.1 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Cost of living
94.7

Prices here run about 5% below the national average. The spread between places is driven mostly by housing — goods vary far less — and this excludes taxes.

Rent as a share of income
21.7%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.1×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$997
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$171,300
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Cost of living index94.7Bottom 30%of 6,0712023
Home price to income3.11Top 50%of 30,4042024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate44.7%Bottom 7%of 32,9102024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±67117,268Top 6%of 33,7722024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$64$997Bottom 49%of 26,6182024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$9,486$171,300Bottom 36%of 30,9412024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income21.7%Top 26%of 26,4702024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate15.0%Top 38%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 →
Development Momentum
18/ 100
Ranks 5115 of 5,428 published city profiles

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.

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

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

The Building Permits Survey is not published for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Wilkinsburg, 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 83°F and January a low of 22°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 41.3 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 52, in the Moderate band, and about 9 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 PITTSBURGH ALLEGHENY CO AP, 6.3 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.6"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index77.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation41.3"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low22°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high83°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10092024 calendar year
Median air quality index52.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing44°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
52
Moderate on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
77
90th percentile index
Days above 100
9
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

81 / 100
Physical resilience

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

Inland floodingModerate
AvalancheModerate

Low or minimal exposure: cold wave, strong wind, ice storm, heat wave, lightning, winter weather, tornado, earthquake, landslide, hurricane, 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 — they say 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 15221 rather than 15221 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
Taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Cost of living now is — the index above is the Bureau of Economic Analysis price parity for this area — but it is a price level for all consumption rather than a budget for a household, its spread is driven mostly by housing, and it excludes taxes. Housing affordability is computed separately from rent, price and income, because that answers a narrower and more actionable question. 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

4 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 20 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Pittsburgh IntlPIT20 mi11,500 ft
Arnold Palmer RgnlLBE26 mi8,222 ft
Youngstown/Warren RgnlYNG71 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
61
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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)
HousingU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities and county personal income
2023Annually, each December
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)
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)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
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.

15221 vs Wilkinsburg

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

15221
Wilkinsburg
Median household income
$55,028
vs
$46,416
Per capita income
$40,791
vs
$37,575
Population density
4,730/sq mi
vs
6,226/sq mi
Median home value
$171,300
vs
$155,500
Median gross rent
$997
vs
$1,025
Homeownership rate
44.7%
vs
30.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher
41.8%
vs
36.7%
Poverty rate
19.2%
vs
20.4%
Median age
39.0
vs
40.0

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.