Erie County, PA
Demographic and economic profile of Erie County, PA, sourced from the US Census Bureau (American Community Survey) via Data USA.
AI Overview
Erie County has a population of 269,544 with a labor force participation rate of 59.1% and an unemployment rate of 5.5%; 29.6% of residents hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and median worker earnings stand at $36,867. The county's cost structure is low, with a median home value of $169,500 and median gross rent of $876 per month, set against a median household income of $63,354. Population has declined 2.3% over five years, and a poverty rate of 15.4% reflects ongoing structural pressures, though a mean commute of 19.9 minutes points to a compact, accessible labor shed.
Claude Sonnet 4.6 · generated Jul 6, 2026 · derived from cached Census, BEA & ACS data on this page
Population Growth (5-year)
-2.3% since 2018
Erie County lost population at this rate over the prior 5-year ACS5 window.
Demographics
Race & Ethnicity
- White Alone222,619 (82.7%)
- Black or African American Alone19,375 (7.2%)
- Two Races Excluding Some Other Race, & Three or More Races9,267 (3.4%)
- Two Races Including Some Other Race7,788 (2.9%)
- Asian Alone5,909 (2.2%)
- Some Other Race Alone3,700 (1.4%)
Top Languages Spoken at Home
- 1.Spanish5,468
- 2.Russian, Polish, or other Slavic3,049
- 3.Other Indo-European2,714
- 4.Arabic1,442
- 5.German or other West Germanic909
Economy
Cost of Living Index
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Not yet cached
Top Industries
- 1.Educational Services, & Health Care & Social Assistance35,156
- 2.Manufacturing (Group)19,106
- 3.Retail Trade (Group)12,828
- 4.Arts, Entertainment, & Recreation, & Accommodation & Food Services10,722
- 5.Professional, Scientific, & Management, & Administrative & Waste Management Services9,242
Top Occupations
- 1.Management, Business, Science, & Arts Occupations47,726
- 2.Service Occupations24,623
- 3.Sales & Office Occupations22,375
- 4.Production, Transportation, & Material Moving Occupations19,606
- 5.Natural Resources, Construction, & Maintenance Occupations8,242
Specialized Industries (Location Quotient)
- 1.Manufacturing (LQ 1.55×)18,951
- 2.Educational Services & Health Care (LQ 1.22×)34,836
- 3.Other Services (LQ 1.08×)6,250
- 4.Finance, Insurance, & Real Estate (LQ 1.05×)8,605
- 5.Arts, Entertainment, Recreation, & Accommodation (LQ 1.02×)10,938
Housing
Education
Workforce
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More on FDI Connect
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Data: US Census Bureau American Community Survey, served via Data USA and the Census Bureau API. See each metric tile for the specific dataset.