Allegheny County vs Lancaster County

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

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

Allegheny County has the higher population (1,240,476 vs 555,151 in Lancaster County). Lancaster County has the higher median household income ($83,703 vs $76,393 in Allegheny County). Lancaster County has the higher median home value ($279,400 vs $216,700 in Allegheny County).

Population, income & housing

	Allegheny County	Lancaster County
Population	1,240,476	555,151
Median age	40.6 yrs	39.1 yrs
Median household income	$76,393	$83,703
Median home value	$216,700	$279,400
Median gross rent	$1,111	$1,289
Housing units	604,558	217,863
Homeownership rate	64.9%	69.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	44.8%	31.0%
Unemployment rate	4.9%	3.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Allegheny County	Lancaster County
Population	1,221,744 → 1,240,476 (+1.5%)	540,999 → 555,151 (+2.6%)
Median household income	$61,043 → $76,393 (+25.1%)	$66,056 → $83,703 (+26.7%)
Median home value	$154,700 → $216,700 (+40.1%)	$209,400 → $279,400 (+33.4%)
Median gross rent	$890 → $1,111 (+24.8%)	$1,009 → $1,289 (+27.8%)

Allegheny County

Population

1,221,7441,240,476

Median household income

$61,043$76,393

Median home value

$154,700$216,700

Median gross rent

$890$1,111

Lancaster County

Population

540,999555,151

Median household income

$66,056$83,703

Median home value

$209,400$279,400

Median gross rent

$1,009$1,289

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Allegheny County	Lancaster County
Under 5	5.1%	6.3%
5 to 17	13.6%	17.0%
18 to 24	8.7%	8.7%
25 to 34	14.9%	12.9%
35 to 44	13.0%	11.8%
45 to 54	11.3%	11.2%
55 to 64	13.6%	12.9%
65 to 74	11.6%	10.6%
75 and over	8.1%	8.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Allegheny County	Lancaster County
White (non-Hispanic)	76.1%	79.8%
Black or African American	12.4%	3.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	4.1%	2.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.5%
Two or more races	4.0%	2.7%
Hispanic or Latino	2.8%	11.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Allegheny County	Lancaster County
No high school diploma	4.5%	12.9%
High school graduate	25.4%	34.5%
Some college or associate's	25.3%	21.7%
Bachelor's degree	26.0%	19.7%
Graduate or professional degree	18.8%	11.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Allegheny County	Lancaster County
Drove alone	63.3%	73.3%
Carpooled	6.6%	10.0%
Public transit	6.2%	0.8%
Walked	3.7%	3.5%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.7%
Worked from home	18.6%	10.3%
Other means	1.3%	1.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Allegheny County	Lancaster County
1-unit, detached	61.6%	55.3%
1-unit, attached	10.2%	21.1%
2 to 4 units	9.0%	7.2%
5 to 19 units	8.1%	6.9%
20 or more units	10.5%	5.7%
Mobile home & other	0.7%	3.7%

Poverty & households

	Allegheny County	Lancaster County
Poverty rate	11.2%	8.7%
Average household size	2.20	2.57
Mean commute (minutes)	26	24
Median year structure built	1957	1977