Borough · Luzerne County, Pennsylvania

Avoca, Pennsylvania

Avoca is a borough in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, part of the Scranton--Wilkes-Barre, PA metro area. It has 2,526 residents. Avoca, Pennsylvania has a quality-of-life score of 60 out of 100 (high), ranking #6,197 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Pennsylvania it ranks #529 of 997 cities and towns. It ranks best on rent-burdened households (low), hot days (low) and mental health care shortage (low). It ranks worst on dental care shortage (high), child care cost burden (high) and hospital quality rating (low).

60High

Quality-of-life score: #6,197 of 15,651 cities and towns
Pennsylvania: #529 of 997 in PA
Population: 2,526 (2020-2024)
Land area: 1 mi²
Density: 2,475.5 /mi²
FIPS code: 4203640

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 72 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety54#7,215/15,637
Economy41#9,191/15,631
Housing95#724/14,977
Health41#9,158/15,609
Healthcare55#7,040/15,650
Environment87#2,012/15,453
Education23#12,095/15,649
Infrastructure64#5,663/15,650
Community48#8,052/15,651
Leisure & amenities52#7,491/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Avoca, Pennsylvania ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Luzerne County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Rent-burdened households · low15.6%
95/100Pennsylvania 48.2%United States 51.1%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25070High uncertainty
Hot days · low3 days
92/100Pennsylvania 7 daysUnited States 42 days2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationLuzerne County value
Mental health care shortage · low0.0
91/100Pennsylvania 1.0United States 9.9Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationLuzerne County value
Primary care shortage · low0.0
90/100Pennsylvania 1.0United States 6.2Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationLuzerne County value
Rent as share of income · low23.3%
90/100Pennsylvania 29.2%United States 30.6%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25071
Public transit commuters · high3.1%
88/100Pennsylvania 3.6%United States 3.2%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08301High uncertainty

Weaknesses

Dental care shortage · high18.0
6/100Pennsylvania 4.8United States 5.7Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationLuzerne County value
Child care cost burden · high40.0%
9/100Pennsylvania 34.6%United States 27.9%2023 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteLuzerne County value
Hospital quality rating · low2.0
9/100Pennsylvania 3.5United States 3.2Jul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesLuzerne County value
Distance to an emergency room · high12.8 mi
11/100Pennsylvania 5.0 miUnited States 5.5 miJul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesLuzerne County value
Distance to an Amtrak station · high80 mi
15/100Pennsylvania 21 miUnited States 43 mi2026Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauLuzerne County value
Distance to an airport · high82 mi
17/100Pennsylvania 36 miUnited States 33 mi2025Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauLuzerne County value

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

Rent-burdened householdsImproving
44.0% (2015-2019) → 15.6% (2020-2024)
−28 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Home price to income ratioWorsening
1.8× (2015-2019) → 2.9× (2020-2024)
+67%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×
Child poverty rateWorsening
0.0% (2015-2019) → 12.9% (2020-2024)
+13 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
84.0% (2015-2019) → 93.6% (2020-2024)
+9.6 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
High school diploma or higherImproving
93.0% (2015-2019) → 97.6% (2020-2024)
+4.6 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 88.0% → 89.6%
Rent as share of incomeImproving
26.8% (2015-2019) → 23.3% (2020-2024)
−3.5 pts5 yearsCensus table B25071US 29.8% → 30.6%

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Avoca, Pennsylvania improved on 2 of 10 measures with a comparison and declined on 1. 7 moved within the margin of error and 0 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved2

Property tax−0.8 points1.72% → 0.96%
Broadband+9.6 points84.0% → 93.6%

Declined1

Price / income+1.2×1.8× → 2.9×

All 10 measures

Change of every measure of Avoca, Pennsylvania between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	19.3 min2015-2019	21.8 min2020-2024	+2.6 min	Within the margin of error	23%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.0%2015-2019	17.8%2020-2024	−2.3 points	Within the margin of error	15%
Broadband subscriptions	84.0%2015-2019	93.6%2020-2024	+9.6 points	Improved	58%
Effective property tax rate	1.72%2015-2019	0.96%2020-2024	−0.8 points	Improved	98%
High school diploma or higher	93.0%2015-2019	97.6%2020-2024	+4.6 points	Within the margin of error	80%
Home price to income ratio	1.8×2015-2019	2.9×2020-2024	+1.2×	Declined	17%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4012015-2019	0.3912020-2024	−0.011	Within the margin of error	60%
Median household income	$64,3382015-2019	$63,4782020-2024	−1.3%	Within the margin of error	7%
Poverty rate	4.7%2015-2019	6.8%2020-2024	+2.2 points	Within the margin of error	25%
Rent as share of income	26.8%2015-2019	23.3%2020-2024	−3.5 points	Within the margin of error	76%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Avoca, Pennsylvania five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Avoca, Pennsylvania in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Avoca, Pennsylvania itself moved +0.2 points in standing on average over the same 9 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

2,526 residents (±18)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79†
60–69†

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

1,160 households (±95)

Avoca, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania share

Under $25k14%†164
$25k–50k16%†184
$50k–75k

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

1,160 households (±95)

Avoca, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania share

Own72%833
Rent28%327

No change since 2015–2019 is larger than the margin of error.

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

1,292 workers (±138)

Avoca, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania share

Drive alone73%939
Carpool12%†157
Public transit3.1%†40

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Scranton--Wilkes-Barre, PA

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Luzerne County, the county holding most of Avoca's residents.

Luzerne County has 7,212 employer establishments, 219 for every 10,000 residents (0.88× the US rate of 248; 0.93× Pennsylvania's), with 139,382 paid employees at an average annual pay of $52,376. The Census Bureau also counts 23,062 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 7,212; 23,062 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 219; US 248 · Pennsylvania 236
Paid employees: 139,382
Average annual pay: $52,376; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Luzerne County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Ambulatory health care services	709	21.6	1.03×About typical	11,096	$77,367	867
Restaurants and other eating places	597	18.2	0.99×About typical	8,691	$18,819	254
Specialty trade contractors	380	11.6	0.75×Fewer than typical	2,711	$70,265	1,315
Full-service restaurants	294	8.9	1.16×About typical	4,510	$19,550	130
Offices of physicians	283	8.6	1.33×More than typical	4,347	$117,740	145
Limited-service restaurants	229	7	0.87×About typical	3,292	$18,564	94
Services to buildings and dwellings	219	6.7	0.99×About typical	1,411	$42,737	1,205
Lessors of real estate	189	5.8	0.47×Fewer than typical	638	$47,252	2,343
Truck transportation	189	5.8	1.14×About typical	2,481	$62,467	984
Religious organizations	182	5.5	1.00×About typical	769	$17,782	—
Offices of other health practitioners	179	5.4	0.90×About typical	930	$44,408	444
Personal care services	173	5.3	1.10×About typical	740	$24,634	1,100

Rank places for an industry Open Luzerne County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 328,684 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $26.6K of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Avoca, Pennsylvania: $10.54 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $26.6K; −88% vs FY2025
Per resident: $10.54; US $1,994
Sole-source: 95%; US 30%
Single offer: 0.0%; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Federal Aviation Administration$25.2K95%
Defense Logistics Agency$1,4465.4%

Top recipients

ALLIED HEALTH CARE SERVICES$25.2K95%
AVIATION TECHNOLOGIES INC$1,4465.4%

Spending by fiscal year

48.5KFY2017
440.5KFY2018
258.8KFY2019
37.5KFY2020
179.9KFY2021
116.2KFY2022
356.2KFY2023
301.2K

Top industries (NAICS)

Services to buildings and dwellings · 5617$25.2K95%
Petroleum and coal products manufacturing · 3241$1,4465.4%

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Avoca, Pennsylvania, so they do not add up across cities.

Avoca, Pennsylvania's figures are part of those of Luzerne County, PA ($634.5M in FY2026), never added to them: 0.0% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Avoca is mostly in Luzerne County.

See federal money in Luzerne County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Avoca, Pennsylvania is split between congressional districts: each representative is shown with the share of its residents in their district (current boundaries).

House

Senate

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Luzerne County57100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Scranton--Wilkes-Barre, PA61

Other cities and towns in Luzerne County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/4203640

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends