Ephrata vs Lancaster

A side-by-side comparison of Ephrata and Lancaster: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Lancaster has the higher population (57,683 vs 13,729 in Ephrata). Ephrata has the higher median household income ($68,117 vs $63,421 in Lancaster). Ephrata has the higher median home value ($215,100 vs $203,700 in Lancaster).

Population, income & housing

	Ephrata	Lancaster
Population	13,729	57,683
Median age	36.8 yrs	31.9 yrs
Median household income	$68,117	$63,421
Median home value	$215,100	$203,700
Median gross rent	$1,070	$1,177
Housing units	5,905	22,285
Homeownership rate	54.3%	47.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	22.9%	27.1%
Unemployment rate	1.9%	7.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Ephrata	Lancaster
Population	13,810 → 13,729 (-0.6%)	59,433 → 57,683 (-2.9%)
Median household income	$51,954 → $68,117 (+31.1%)	$45,514 → $63,421 (+39.3%)
Median home value	$155,400 → $215,100 (+38.4%)	$114,600 → $203,700 (+77.7%)
Median gross rent	$860 → $1,070 (+24.4%)	$866 → $1,177 (+35.9%)

Ephrata

Population

13,81013,729

Median household income

$51,954$68,117

Median home value

$155,400$215,100

Median gross rent

$860$1,070

Lancaster

Population

59,43357,683

Median household income

$45,514$63,421

Median home value

$114,600$203,700

Median gross rent

$866$1,177

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Ephrata	Lancaster
Under 5	6.3%	6.5%
5 to 17	17.4%	15.2%
18 to 24	6.0%	14.8%
25 to 34	17.2%	18.3%
35 to 44	12.7%	14.3%
45 to 54	10.9%	10.5%
55 to 64	11.8%	10.2%
65 to 74	8.8%	6.8%
75 and over	9.0%	3.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Ephrata	Lancaster
White (non-Hispanic)	83.8%	38.2%
Black or African American	3.3%	12.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	0.4%	2.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.2%	0.4%
Two or more races	2.9%	3.5%
Hispanic or Latino	9.3%	42.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Ephrata	Lancaster
No high school diploma	11.6%	17.9%
High school graduate	42.1%	33.4%
Some college or associate's	23.4%	21.5%
Bachelor's degree	15.7%	17.7%
Graduate or professional degree	7.2%	9.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Ephrata	Lancaster
Drove alone	80.1%	62.0%
Carpooled	11.0%	10.7%
Public transit	0.1%	4.4%
Walked	3.4%	10.9%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.9%
Worked from home	4.9%	9.3%
Other means	0.4%	1.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Ephrata	Lancaster
1-unit, detached	35.9%	10.6%
1-unit, attached	30.5%	52.6%
2 to 4 units	14.2%	17.7%
5 to 19 units	13.3%	10.0%
20 or more units	4.3%	8.9%
Mobile home & other	1.9%	0.2%

Poverty & households

	Ephrata	Lancaster
Poverty rate	9.3%	20.7%
Average household size	2.33	2.53
Mean commute (minutes)	23	23
Median year structure built	1968	1938