Phoenixville vs West Chester

A side-by-side comparison of Phoenixville and West Chester: population, income, housing, and more.

Phoenixville and West Chester are places in Pennsylvania. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

West Chester has the higher population (19,235 vs 19,062 in Phoenixville). Phoenixville has the higher median household income ($94,411 vs $81,492 in West Chester). West Chester has the higher median home value ($481,300 vs $348,200 in Phoenixville).

Population, income & housing

	Phoenixville	West Chester
Population	19,062	19,235
Median age	35.2 yrs	24.8 yrs
Median household income	$94,411	$81,492
Median home value	$348,200	$481,300
Median gross rent	$1,563	$1,661
Housing units	9,360	7,371
Homeownership rate	52.4%	34.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	53.3%	60.1%
Unemployment rate	3.8%	7.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Phoenixville	West Chester
Population	16,895 → 19,062 (+12.8%)	20,034 → 19,235 (-4.0%)
Median household income	$73,004 → $94,411 (+29.3%)	$61,837 → $81,492 (+31.8%)
Median home value	$237,200 → $348,200 (+46.8%)	$378,400 → $481,300 (+27.2%)
Median gross rent	$1,200 → $1,563 (+30.3%)	$1,293 → $1,661 (+28.5%)

Phoenixville

Population

16,89519,062

Median household income

$73,004$94,411

Median home value

$237,200$348,200

Median gross rent

$1,200$1,563

West Chester

Population

20,03419,235

Median household income

$61,837$81,492

Median home value

$378,400$481,300

Median gross rent

$1,293$1,661

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Phoenixville	West Chester
Under 5	6.1%	2.4%
5 to 17	13.0%	7.2%
18 to 24	6.3%	41.2%
25 to 34	23.8%	17.4%
35 to 44	16.3%	8.5%
45 to 54	11.5%	7.8%
55 to 64	10.1%	6.0%
65 to 74	7.4%	5.7%
75 and over	5.4%	3.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Phoenixville	West Chester
White (non-Hispanic)	79.7%	71.4%
Black or African American	4.8%	12.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	3.8%	1.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.1%
Two or more races	5.0%	3.3%
Hispanic or Latino	6.1%	10.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Phoenixville	West Chester
No high school diploma	5.5%	6.0%
High school graduate	21.6%	20.0%
Some college or associate's	19.6%	13.9%
Bachelor's degree	33.8%	38.2%
Graduate or professional degree	19.5%	21.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Phoenixville	West Chester
Drove alone	62.8%	63.6%
Carpooled	6.5%	5.7%
Public transit	1.0%	1.5%
Walked	3.6%	13.4%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.4%
Worked from home	25.1%	14.9%
Other means	0.8%	0.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Phoenixville	West Chester
1-unit, detached	23.0%	16.7%
1-unit, attached	36.4%	32.4%
2 to 4 units	10.7%	16.7%
5 to 19 units	10.7%	14.9%
20 or more units	19.2%	19.1%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.2%

Poverty & households

	Phoenixville	West Chester
Poverty rate	8.4%	18.3%
Average household size	2.15	2.07
Mean commute (minutes)	26	22
Median year structure built	1971	1958