North East, PA

The affordability dashboard for North East, PA aggregates Census ACS 5-Year Estimates across 1 ZIP code covering 12,478 residents, then layers in county-level federal data to produce an overall grade of B (71/100). The headline inputs are median household income of $78,675, median home value of $193,300, median rent of $778 per month, and 26.5% of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher. These four metrics alone explain most of the variance between city dashboards.

Cross-agency feeds widen the picture beyond Census demographics. HUD publishes a Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom in this county at $1,212 per month (studio $836, 1BR $945, 3BR $1,499, 4BR $1,683).

Reading the overall grade requires reading all seven dimensions together. The score weights Income 20%, Safety 20%, Housing 15%, Rent 15%, Education 10%, Commute 10%, and Childcare 10%, with each sub-score benchmarked against national percentiles rather than state averages — so the grade is genuinely comparable across any city in the country. Strengths visible in the raw data for North East, PA include housing, commute, rent. Unemployment currently reads 5.6% and poverty 12.2% — numbers worth keeping alongside the headline grade.