Beaver County vs Centre County

A side-by-side comparison of Beaver County and Centre County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Beaver County has the higher population (166,993 vs 158,041 in Centre County). Centre County has the higher median household income ($72,748 vs $70,156 in Beaver County). Centre County has the higher median home value ($308,100 vs $185,500 in Beaver County).

Population, income & housing

	Beaver County	Centre County
Population	166,993	158,041
Median age	44.7 yrs	33.8 yrs
Median household income	$70,156	$72,748
Median home value	$185,500	$308,100
Median gross rent	$867	$1,181
Housing units	79,159	66,023
Homeownership rate	74.5%	61.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	28.3%	46.5%
Unemployment rate	5.1%	4.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Beaver County	Centre County
Population	165,833 → 166,993 (+0.7%)	161,960 → 158,041 (-2.4%)
Median household income	$57,807 → $70,156 (+21.4%)	$60,403 → $72,748 (+20.4%)
Median home value	$141,100 → $185,500 (+31.5%)	$234,900 → $308,100 (+31.2%)
Median gross rent	$698 → $867 (+24.2%)	$1,000 → $1,181 (+18.1%)

Beaver County

Population

165,833166,993

Median household income

$57,807$70,156

Median home value

$141,100$185,500

Median gross rent

$698$867

Centre County

Population

161,960158,041

Median household income

$60,403$72,748

Median home value

$234,900$308,100

Median gross rent

$1,000$1,181

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Beaver County	Centre County
Under 5	4.8%	3.6%
5 to 17	14.6%	11.1%
18 to 24	7.0%	23.5%
25 to 34	11.8%	13.0%
35 to 44	12.1%	11.1%
45 to 54	11.9%	10.6%
55 to 64	15.6%	11.5%
65 to 74	13.1%	9.1%
75 and over	9.1%	6.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Beaver County	Centre County
White (non-Hispanic)	87.0%	83.5%
Black or African American	6.1%	3.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	0.5%	6.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.2%
Two or more races	3.9%	3.3%
Hispanic or Latino	2.3%	3.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Beaver County	Centre County
No high school diploma	4.9%	5.4%
High school graduate	36.3%	28.5%
Some college or associate's	30.4%	19.6%
Bachelor's degree	19.4%	22.4%
Graduate or professional degree	8.9%	24.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Beaver County	Centre County
Drove alone	76.4%	66.0%
Carpooled	7.6%	6.8%
Public transit	1.3%	3.6%
Walked	2.0%	7.6%
Bicycle	0.1%	1.8%
Worked from home	11.5%	13.6%
Other means	1.1%	0.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Beaver County	Centre County
1-unit, detached	75.8%	58.7%
1-unit, attached	5.5%	6.5%
2 to 4 units	7.0%	6.8%
5 to 19 units	4.6%	12.3%
20 or more units	3.5%	10.9%
Mobile home & other	3.5%	4.9%

Poverty & households

	Beaver County	Centre County
Poverty rate	10.1%	16.9%
Average household size	2.28	2.33
Mean commute (minutes)	26	20
Median year structure built	1958	1980