Carlisle vs Mechanicsburg

A side-by-side comparison of Carlisle and Mechanicsburg: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Carlisle has the higher population (21,335 vs 9,535 in Mechanicsburg). Mechanicsburg has the higher median household income ($81,696 vs $59,742 in Carlisle). Mechanicsburg has the higher median home value ($227,600 vs $212,400 in Carlisle).

Population, income & housing

	Carlisle	Mechanicsburg
Population	21,335	9,535
Median age	34.4 yrs	39.6 yrs
Median household income	$59,742	$81,696
Median home value	$212,400	$227,600
Median gross rent	$986	$1,033
Housing units	9,233	4,370
Homeownership rate	49.1%	67.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	37.8%	42.2%
Unemployment rate	4.1%	2.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Carlisle	Mechanicsburg
Population	19,153 → 21,335 (+11.4%)	9,006 → 9,535 (+5.9%)
Median household income	$48,612 → $59,742 (+22.9%)	$55,652 → $81,696 (+46.8%)
Median home value	$187,800 → $212,400 (+13.1%)	$170,400 → $227,600 (+33.6%)
Median gross rent	$844 → $986 (+16.8%)	$905 → $1,033 (+14.1%)

Carlisle

Population

19,15321,335

Median household income

$48,612$59,742

Median home value

$187,800$212,400

Median gross rent

$844$986

Mechanicsburg

Population

9,0069,535

Median household income

$55,652$81,696

Median home value

$170,400$227,600

Median gross rent

$905$1,033

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Carlisle	Mechanicsburg
Under 5	5.1%	4.4%
5 to 17	13.8%	16.3%
18 to 24	19.1%	4.3%
25 to 34	12.5%	17.2%
35 to 44	11.6%	15.9%
45 to 54	8.6%	9.3%
55 to 64	12.0%	16.1%
65 to 74	10.5%	9.6%
75 and over	6.8%	7.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Carlisle	Mechanicsburg
White (non-Hispanic)	74.8%	85.1%
Black or African American	9.9%	2.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	2.9%	1.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.6%	0.6%
Two or more races	3.0%	4.0%
Hispanic or Latino	8.7%	6.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Carlisle	Mechanicsburg
No high school diploma	7.2%	4.2%
High school graduate	33.3%	31.0%
Some college or associate's	21.6%	22.5%
Bachelor's degree	21.9%	33.3%
Graduate or professional degree	15.9%	8.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Carlisle	Mechanicsburg
Drove alone	67.5%	75.7%
Carpooled	5.8%	4.4%
Public transit	0.5%	1.3%
Walked	10.1%	1.5%
Bicycle	2.8%	0.0%
Worked from home	10.8%	15.7%
Other means	2.5%	1.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Carlisle	Mechanicsburg
1-unit, detached	36.9%	57.4%
1-unit, attached	25.3%	12.9%
2 to 4 units	17.2%	21.5%
5 to 19 units	13.5%	2.8%
20 or more units	6.3%	5.0%
Mobile home & other	0.7%	0.3%

Poverty & households

	Carlisle	Mechanicsburg
Poverty rate	17.4%	5.2%
Average household size	2.11	2.25
Mean commute (minutes)	19	25
Median year structure built	1952	1960