Forest County vs Potter County

A side-by-side comparison of Forest County and Potter County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Potter County has the higher population (16,276 vs 6,785 in Forest County). Potter County has the higher median household income ($59,840 vs $50,061 in Forest County). Potter County has the higher median home value ($146,200 vs $111,900 in Forest County).

Population, income & housing

	Forest County	Potter County
Population	6,785	16,276
Median age	48.6 yrs	48.2 yrs
Median household income	$50,061	$59,840
Median home value	$111,900	$146,200
Median gross rent	$808	$767
Housing units	6,969	12,375
Homeownership rate	76.9%	80.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	12.1%	17.1%
Unemployment rate	3.1%	4.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Forest County	Potter County
Population	7,313 → 6,785 (-7.2%)	16,806 → 16,276 (-3.2%)
Median household income	$39,717 → $50,061 (+26.0%)	$45,419 → $59,840 (+31.8%)
Median home value	$95,900 → $111,900 (+16.7%)	$109,600 → $146,200 (+33.4%)
Median gross rent	$520 → $808 (+55.4%)	$663 → $767 (+15.7%)

Forest County

Population

7,3136,785

Median household income

$39,717$50,061

Median home value

$95,900$111,900

Median gross rent

$520$808

Potter County

Population

16,80616,276

Median household income

$45,419$59,840

Median home value

$109,600$146,200

Median gross rent

$663$767

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Forest County	Potter County
Under 5	0.5%	4.9%
5 to 17	3.1%	15.4%
18 to 24	8.7%	6.5%
25 to 34	19.6%	10.0%
35 to 44	13.8%	10.3%
45 to 54	13.5%	11.7%
55 to 64	16.7%	16.1%
65 to 74	14.7%	14.8%
75 and over	9.3%	10.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Forest County	Potter County
White (non-Hispanic)	78.3%	94.9%
Black or African American	13.7%	0.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.4%	0.1%
Asian	0.6%	0.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.2%
Two or more races	1.9%	2.3%
Hispanic or Latino	5.0%	1.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Forest County	Potter County
No high school diploma	14.4%	9.2%
High school graduate	51.6%	46.8%
Some college or associate's	22.0%	27.0%
Bachelor's degree	8.8%	10.6%
Graduate or professional degree	3.3%	6.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Forest County	Potter County
Drove alone	72.8%	75.4%
Carpooled	7.8%	7.5%
Public transit	0.0%	0.2%
Walked	2.3%	6.7%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.1%
Worked from home	14.7%	9.6%
Other means	2.5%	0.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Forest County	Potter County
1-unit, detached	81.7%	80.8%
1-unit, attached	0.3%	0.4%
2 to 4 units	0.6%	3.2%
5 to 19 units	1.4%	1.4%
20 or more units	0.7%	0.9%
Mobile home & other	15.3%	13.3%

Poverty & households

	Forest County	Potter County
Poverty rate	14.7%	11.7%
Average household size	2.26	2.37
Mean commute (minutes)	24	24
Median year structure built	1971	1969