Hazleton vs Wilkes-Barre

A side-by-side comparison of Hazleton and Wilkes-Barre: population, income, housing, and more.

Hazleton and Wilkes-Barre are places in Pennsylvania. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Wilkes-Barre has the higher population (44,217 vs 29,886 in Hazleton). Wilkes-Barre has the higher median household income ($47,970 vs $43,379 in Hazleton). Hazleton has the higher median home value ($129,000 vs $108,000 in Wilkes-Barre).

Population, income & housing

	Hazleton	Wilkes-Barre
Population	29,886	44,217
Median age	37.6 yrs	35.3 yrs
Median household income	$43,379	$47,970
Median home value	$129,000	$108,000
Median gross rent	$1,015	$939
Housing units	12,681	19,993
Homeownership rate	48.5%	48.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	11.7%	19.4%
Unemployment rate	6.3%	8.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Hazleton	Wilkes-Barre
Population	24,857 → 29,886 (+20.2%)	40,867 → 44,217 (+8.2%)
Median household income	$40,467 → $43,379 (+7.2%)	$37,902 → $47,970 (+26.6%)
Median home value	$97,900 → $129,000 (+31.8%)	$75,100 → $108,000 (+43.8%)
Median gross rent	$812 → $1,015 (+25.0%)	$766 → $939 (+22.6%)

Hazleton

Population

24,85729,886

Median household income

$40,467$43,379

Median home value

$97,900$129,000

Median gross rent

$812$1,015

Wilkes-Barre

Population

40,86744,217

Median household income

$37,902$47,970

Median home value

$75,100$108,000

Median gross rent

$766$939

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Hazleton	Wilkes-Barre
Under 5	6.4%	5.9%
5 to 17	17.3%	15.9%
18 to 24	10.6%	13.5%
25 to 34	12.4%	14.3%
35 to 44	12.2%	14.0%
45 to 54	14.3%	9.9%
55 to 64	11.9%	11.1%
65 to 74	6.9%	8.6%
75 and over	8.2%	6.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Hazleton	Wilkes-Barre
White (non-Hispanic)	33.7%	51.9%
Black or African American	1.7%	11.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.1%	2.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.6%	0.2%
Two or more races	0.8%	3.6%
Hispanic or Latino	63.1%	30.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Hazleton	Wilkes-Barre
No high school diploma	25.0%	15.0%
High school graduate	37.7%	39.1%
Some college or associate's	25.6%	26.5%
Bachelor's degree	8.0%	12.9%
Graduate or professional degree	3.7%	6.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Hazleton	Wilkes-Barre
Drove alone	67.6%	70.4%
Carpooled	23.4%	11.3%
Public transit	2.1%	2.3%
Walked	2.3%	6.5%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.1%
Worked from home	3.0%	7.4%
Other means	1.6%	2.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Hazleton	Wilkes-Barre
1-unit, detached	39.1%	51.0%
1-unit, attached	32.2%	13.1%
2 to 4 units	17.5%	16.5%
5 to 19 units	6.8%	6.4%
20 or more units	3.5%	12.7%
Mobile home & other	0.9%	0.3%

Poverty & households

	Hazleton	Wilkes-Barre
Poverty rate	27.0%	21.1%
Average household size	2.56	2.43
Mean commute (minutes)	22	20
Median year structure built	1951	1943