Nanticoke vs Wilkes-Barre

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

Nanticoke 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 10,610 in Nanticoke). Nanticoke has the higher median household income ($60,340 vs $47,970 in Wilkes-Barre). Wilkes-Barre has the higher median home value ($108,000 vs $103,800 in Nanticoke).

Population, income & housing

	Nanticoke	Wilkes-Barre
Population	10,610	44,217
Median age	39.6 yrs	35.3 yrs
Median household income	$60,340	$47,970
Median home value	$103,800	$108,000
Median gross rent	$787	$939
Housing units	5,109	19,993
Homeownership rate	58.3%	48.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.1%	19.4%
Unemployment rate	8.7%	8.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Nanticoke	Wilkes-Barre
Population	10,304 → 10,610 (+3.0%)	40,867 → 44,217 (+8.2%)
Median household income	$42,735 → $60,340 (+41.2%)	$37,902 → $47,970 (+26.6%)
Median home value	$80,300 → $103,800 (+29.3%)	$75,100 → $108,000 (+43.8%)
Median gross rent	$667 → $787 (+18.0%)	$766 → $939 (+22.6%)

Nanticoke

Population

10,30410,610

Median household income

$42,735$60,340

Median home value

$80,300$103,800

Median gross rent

$667$787

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)

	Nanticoke	Wilkes-Barre
Under 5	5.6%	5.9%
5 to 17	15.1%	15.9%
18 to 24	8.4%	13.5%
25 to 34	14.2%	14.3%
35 to 44	12.3%	14.0%
45 to 54	13.7%	9.9%
55 to 64	12.5%	11.1%
65 to 74	11.5%	8.6%
75 and over	6.7%	6.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Nanticoke	Wilkes-Barre
White (non-Hispanic)	78.9%	51.9%
Black or African American	8.1%	11.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	2.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.2%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.2%
Two or more races	2.0%	3.6%
Hispanic or Latino	10.8%	30.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Nanticoke	Wilkes-Barre
No high school diploma	12.9%	15.0%
High school graduate	40.0%	39.1%
Some college or associate's	27.9%	26.5%
Bachelor's degree	14.0%	12.9%
Graduate or professional degree	5.1%	6.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Nanticoke	Wilkes-Barre
Drove alone	73.6%	70.4%
Carpooled	14.8%	11.3%
Public transit	0.8%	2.3%
Walked	3.2%	6.5%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.1%
Worked from home	7.0%	7.4%
Other means	0.7%	2.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Nanticoke	Wilkes-Barre
1-unit, detached	55.2%	51.0%
1-unit, attached	18.3%	13.1%
2 to 4 units	16.3%	16.5%
5 to 19 units	4.1%	6.4%
20 or more units	6.0%	12.7%
Mobile home & other	0.1%	0.3%

Poverty & households

	Nanticoke	Wilkes-Barre
Poverty rate	17.7%	21.1%
Average household size	2.40	2.43
Mean commute (minutes)	21	20
Median year structure built	1945	1943