Borough · Clarion County, Pennsylvania

Clarion, Pennsylvania

Clarion is a borough in Clarion County, Pennsylvania. It has 4,192 residents. Clarion, Pennsylvania has a quality-of-life score of 47 out of 100 (moderate), ranking #8,221 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Pennsylvania it ranks #765 of 997 cities and towns. It ranks best on average commute time (low), students per teacher (low) and social associations (high). It ranks worst on access to exercise opportunities (low), new business applications (low) and hospital quality rating (low).

47Moderate

Quality-of-life score: #8,221 of 15,651 cities and towns
Pennsylvania: #765 of 997 in PA
Population: 4,192 (2020-2024)
Land area: 2 mi²
Density: 2,662.6 /mi²
FIPS code: 4213800

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 71 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.

Safety62#5,865/15,637
Economy3#15,123/15,631
Housing41#8,768/14,977
Health23#11,984/15,609
Healthcare33#10,547/15,650
Environment67#5,058/15,453
Education97#496/15,649
Infrastructure56#6,918/15,650
Community54#7,164/15,651
Leisure & amenities51#7,620/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Clarion, Pennsylvania ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Clarion 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

Average commute time · low10.8 min
100/100Pennsylvania 26.3 minUnited States 26.4 min2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08013
Students per teacher · low10.2×
98/100Pennsylvania 13.1×United States 15.2×2024National Center for Education StatisticsClarion County value
Social associations · high18.7 /10k
97/100Pennsylvania 11.9 /10kUnited States 9.1 /10k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteClarion County value
Natural hazard risk · low4.4
93/100Pennsylvania 22.42025Federal Emergency Management AgencyClarion County value
Reading scores · high3.33
90/100Pennsylvania 3.10United States 3.052019University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteClarion County value
Math scores · high3.39
89/100Pennsylvania 3.12United States 3.032019University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteClarion County value

Weaknesses

Access to exercise opportunities · low46.3%
9/100Pennsylvania 86.3%United States 84.5%2022 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteClarion County value
New business applications · low8.3 /1k
9/100Pennsylvania 12.4 /1kUnited States 16.6 /1k2025U.S. Census BureauClarion County value
Hospital quality rating · low2.0
9/100Pennsylvania 3.5United States 3.2Jul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesClarion County value
Unemployment rate · high9.8%
10/100Pennsylvania 4.3%United States 4.3%2020-2024U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Census table B23025High uncertainty
Average weekly wage · low$948
10/100Pennsylvania $1,429United States $1,5142025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsClarion County value
Poverty rate · high23.9%
12/100Pennsylvania 11.6%United States 12.1%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B17001

Trends

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

PopulationFalling
5,580 (2015-2019) → 4,192 (2020-2024)
−25%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Median household incomeImproving
$27,823 (2015-2019) → $47,181 (2020-2024)
+70%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
81.0% (2015-2019) → 94.7% (2020-2024)
+14 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Bachelor's degree or higherImproving
38.4% (2015-2019) → 48.6% (2020-2024)
+10 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%
Average commute timeImproving
17.4 min (2015-2019) → 10.8 min (2020-2024)
−38%5 yearsCensus table B08013US 26.9 min → 26.4 min
Poverty rateImproving
30.6% (2015-2019) → 23.9% (2020-2024)
−6.7 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 12.3% → 12.1%

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, Clarion, Pennsylvania improved on 2 of 13 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 11 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

Household income+70%$27,823 → $47,181
Commute−6.6 min17.4 min → 10.8 min

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 13 measures

Change of every measure of Clarion, Pennsylvania between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	17.4 min2015-2019	10.8 min2020-2024	−6.6 min	Improved	94%
Bachelor's degree or higher	38.4%2015-2019	48.6%2020-2024	+10 points	Within the margin of error	90%
Broadband subscriptions	81.0%2015-2019	94.7%2020-2024	+14 points	Within the margin of error	75%
Child poverty rate	24.7%2015-2019	20.7%2020-2024	−4 points	Within the margin of error	65%
Effective property tax rate	1.75%2015-2019	1.51%2020-2024	−0.2 points	Within the margin of error	67%
High school diploma or higher	97.1%2015-2019	93.6%2020-2024	−3.5 points	Within the margin of error	9%
Home price to income ratio	4.5×2015-2019	3.5×2020-2024	−1.0×	Within the margin of error	98%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.5082015-2019	0.4662020-2024	−0.042	Within the margin of error	80%
Median household income	$27,8232015-2019	$47,1812020-2024	+70%	Improved	94%
Poverty rate	30.6%2015-2019	23.9%2020-2024	−6.7 points	Within the margin of error	86%
Rent as share of income	31.7%2015-2019	29.0%2020-2024	−2.7 points	Within the margin of error	73%
Rent-burdened households	51.5%2015-2019	48.5%2020-2024	−3 points	Within the margin of error	66%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	7.2%2015-2019	7.2%2020-2024	−0 points	Within the margin of error	47%

“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 Clarion, Pennsylvania five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Clarion, 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, Clarion, Pennsylvania itself moved +10.4 points in standing on average over the same 10 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

4,192 residents (±18)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79†
60–69†
50–59†
40–49†
30–39†
20–29†
10–19†
Under 10†

Share of all residents, each sex

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: 10–19 men (+5.4 points).

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 · Table B01001View table on data.census.gov

Race and Hispanic origin

4,192 residents (±18)

Clarion, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania share

White87%3,650
Black4.7%†195
Hispanic or Latino5.5%†229

Education

1,925 residents (±237)

Clarion, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania share

No high school diploma6.4%†123
High school or GED28%535
Some college12%†235

Counts are survey estimates, each with a margin of error. The grouping into ranges is ours; every count is the Census Bureau's.

Income

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

Household income

1,485 households (±145)

Clarion, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania share

Under $25k28%†417
$25k–50k23%†338
$50k–75k17%†246
$75k–100k13%†191
$100k–150k12%†171
$150k–200k3.2%†48
$200k or more5.0%†74

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Under $25k (−19.1 points).

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 · Table B19001View table on data.census.gov

Counts are survey estimates, each with a margin of error. The grouping into ranges is ours; every count is the Census Bureau's.

Homes

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

Owners and renters

1,485 households (±145)

Clarion, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania share

Own42%624
Rent58%861

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

Table view

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 · Table B25003View table on data.census.gov

Rent paid

832 households (±154)

Clarion, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania share

Under $75028%†231
$750–1,00050%†419
$1,000–1,50017%†140

Home values

624 homes (±116)

Clarion, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania share

Under $150k34%†212
$150k–250k60%†374
$250k–400k5.3%†33

Age of homes

1,897 homes (±195)

Clarion, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania share

2010 or later4.9%†92
2000–20095.0%†95
1980–19998.0%†

Size of homes

1,897 homes (±195)

Clarion, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania share

Studio3.3%†63
1 bedroom17%†321
2 bedrooms38%713

Counts are survey estimates, each with a margin of error. The grouping into ranges is ours; every count is the Census Bureau's.

Getting to work

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

How people get to work

2,180 workers (±146)

Clarion, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania share

Drive alone70%1,534
Carpool4.6%†101
Public transit0.0%0
Walk17%†369
Bike1.1%†23
Work from home6.9%†150
Other0.1%†3

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Public transit (−2.9 points).

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020–2024 · Table B08301View table on data.census.gov

Time to get to work

2,030 workers (±168)

Clarion, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania share

Under 15 min81%1,646
15–29 min11%†215
30–44 min5.5%†112

Counts are survey estimates, each with a margin of error. The grouping into ranges is ours; every count is the Census Bureau's.

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 Clarion County, the county holding most of Clarion's residents.

Clarion County has 958 employer establishments, 259 for every 10,000 residents (1.04× the US rate of 248; 1.10× Pennsylvania's), with 10,121 paid employees at an average annual pay of $41,236. The Census Bureau also counts 2,335 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 958; 2,335 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 259; US 248 · Pennsylvania 236
Paid employees: 10,121
Average annual pay: $41,236; US $68,342

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

Ambulatory health care services	70	18.9	0.91×About typical	607	$53,486	63
Restaurants and other eating places	63	17.1	0.93×About typical	977	$15,313	11
Individual and family services	50	13.5	4.83×More than typical	331	$40,979	9
Religious organizations	49	13.3	2.39×More than typical	194	$18,155	—
Specialty trade contractors	47	12.7	0.82×About typical	217	$68,604	262
Construction of buildings	32	8.7	1.15×About typical	158	$53,133	148
Automotive repair and maintenance	31	8.4	1.67×More than typical	160	$39,475	47
Full-service restaurants	29	7.8	1.02×About typical	570	$15,796	—
Truck transportation	27	7.3	1.45×More than typical	142	$44,289	114
Limited-service restaurants	25	6.8	0.84×About typical	368	$14,432	7
Lessors of real estate	23	6.2	0.51×Fewer than typical	76	$38,987	169
Services to buildings and dwellings	23	6.2	0.92×About typical	118	$28,153	116

Rank places for an industry Open Clarion County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 36,944 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 $0 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Clarion, Pennsylvania: $0 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $0; −100% vs FY2025
Per resident: $0; US $1,994
Sole-source: —; US 30%
Single offer: —; 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

Top recipients

Spending by fiscal year

1.9KFY2017
-0.2FY2018
34.9KFY2019
-3.2KFY2021
27.6KFY2023
383.9FY2024
3.6KFY2025

What was bought

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 Clarion, Pennsylvania, so they do not add up across cities.

Clarion, Pennsylvania's figures are part of those of Clarion County, PA ($149K 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: Clarion is mostly in Clarion County.

See federal money in Clarion 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.

Clarion, Pennsylvania is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.

House

Glenn ThompsonR-PA-15 · 100% of residentsWith party 97%Missed 1.2%

Senate

Explore Congress The 2026 races

County

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

Clarion County62100% of residents

Other cities and towns in Clarion 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
Building Permits SurveyU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-08
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

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