Erie County vs Lackawanna County

A side-by-side comparison of Erie County and Lackawanna County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Erie County has the higher population (269,544 vs 215,834 in Lackawanna County). Lackawanna County has the higher median household income ($64,691 vs $61,476 in Erie County). Lackawanna County has the higher median home value ($189,900 vs $169,500 in Erie County).

Population, income & housing

	Erie County	Lackawanna County
Population	269,544	215,834
Median age	40.1 yrs	41.9 yrs
Median household income	$61,476	$64,691
Median home value	$169,500	$189,900
Median gross rent	$876	$973
Housing units	120,019	100,013
Homeownership rate	68.3%	65.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	29.6%	30.1%
Unemployment rate	5.5%	4.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Erie County	Lackawanna County
Population	273,835 → 269,544 (-1.6%)	210,652 → 215,834 (+2.5%)
Median household income	$51,529 → $61,476 (+19.3%)	$52,821 → $64,691 (+22.5%)
Median home value	$134,100 → $169,500 (+26.4%)	$152,400 → $189,900 (+24.6%)
Median gross rent	$753 → $876 (+16.3%)	$792 → $973 (+22.9%)

Erie County

Population

273,835269,544

Median household income

$51,529$61,476

Median home value

$134,100$169,500

Median gross rent

$753$876

Lackawanna County

Population

210,652215,834

Median household income

$52,821$64,691

Median home value

$152,400$189,900

Median gross rent

$792$973

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Erie County	Lackawanna County
Under 5	5.2%	5.1%
5 to 17	15.7%	15.4%
18 to 24	9.9%	8.9%
25 to 34	12.6%	12.2%
35 to 44	11.9%	12.0%
45 to 54	11.8%	12.2%
55 to 64	13.7%	14.0%
65 to 74	11.5%	11.7%
75 and over	7.7%	8.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Erie County	Lackawanna County
White (non-Hispanic)	82.3%	81.1%
Black or African American	6.6%	2.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	2.0%	2.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.5%
Two or more races	4.0%	3.3%
Hispanic or Latino	4.6%	9.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Erie County	Lackawanna County
No high school diploma	7.4%	8.4%
High school graduate	37.5%	35.4%
Some college or associate's	25.4%	26.1%
Bachelor's degree	18.6%	18.4%
Graduate or professional degree	11.1%	11.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Erie County	Lackawanna County
Drove alone	76.4%	75.9%
Carpooled	9.3%	9.6%
Public transit	1.1%	0.8%
Walked	3.2%	3.1%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.1%
Worked from home	8.2%	9.5%
Other means	1.5%	1.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Erie County	Lackawanna County
1-unit, detached	68.0%	64.7%
1-unit, attached	4.1%	7.1%
2 to 4 units	12.2%	17.6%
5 to 19 units	5.2%	4.5%
20 or more units	5.6%	3.9%
Mobile home & other	4.9%	2.1%

Poverty & households

	Erie County	Lackawanna County
Poverty rate	15.4%	14.0%
Average household size	2.33	2.35
Mean commute (minutes)	20	21
Median year structure built	1963	1955