City · Luzerne County, Pennsylvania

Hazleton, Pennsylvania

Hazleton is a city in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, part of the Scranton--Wilkes-Barre, PA metro area. It has 30,111 residents. Hazleton, Pennsylvania has a quality-of-life score of 23 out of 100 (low), ranking #12,044 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Pennsylvania it ranks #990 of 997 cities and towns. It ranks best on hot days (low), mental health care shortage (low) and primary care shortage (low). It ranks worst on physical inactivity (high), poor or fair health (high) and child poverty rate (high).

23Low

Quality-of-life score: #12,044 of 15,651 cities and towns
Pennsylvania: #990 of 997 in PA
Population: 30,111 (2020-2024)
Land area: 6 mi²
Density: 5,042.0 /mi²
FIPS code: 4233408

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 73 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
Economy8#14,318/15,631
Housing19#12,089/14,977
Health13#13,529/15,609
Healthcare36#9,987/15,650
Environment87#2,012/15,453
Education5#14,858/15,649
Infrastructure23#11,999/15,650
Community48#8,052/15,651
Leisure & amenities52#7,491/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Hazleton, 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

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
Days with unhealthy air · low0.0%
84/100Pennsylvania 0.8%2022U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyLuzerne County value
Public transit commuters · high1.7%
82/100Pennsylvania 3.6%United States 3.2%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B08301
Mammography screening · high52.0%
81/100Pennsylvania 51.0%United States 46.0%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteLuzerne County value

Weaknesses

Physical inactivity · high39.0%
4/100Pennsylvania 20.8%United States 26.5%2022University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate
Poor or fair health · high32.2%
4/100Pennsylvania 17.0%United States 19.9%2022University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate
Child poverty rate · high31.1%
6/100Pennsylvania 15.3%United States 15.5%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B17001
Poverty rate · high25.0%
6/100Pennsylvania 11.6%United States 12.1%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B17001
Adult obesity · high44.5%
6/100Pennsylvania 32.9%United States 38.2%2022University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate
Dental care shortage · high18.0
6/100Pennsylvania 4.8United States 5.7Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationLuzerne County value

Trends

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

PopulationRising
24,857 (2015-2019) → 30,111 (2020-2024)
+21%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
70.7% (2015-2019) → 85.6% (2020-2024)
+15 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
47.6% (2015-2019) → 60.1% (2020-2024)
+13 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Home price to income ratioWorsening
2.4× (2015-2019) → 3.3× (2020-2024)
+36%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×
Uninsured residents (under 65)Worsening
12.7% (2015-2019) → 19.2% (2020-2024)
+6.5 pts5 yearsCensus table B27010US 10.8% → 9.8%
Rent as share of incomeWorsening
29.0% (2015-2019) → 33.9% (2020-2024)
+4.9 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, Hazleton, Pennsylvania improved on 3 of 15 measures with a comparison and declined on 4. 8 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.

Improved3

Property tax−0.4 points1.68% → 1.27%
Unemployment−2.6 points8.2% → 5.6%
Broadband+15 points70.7% → 85.6%

Declined4

Uninsured+6.5 points12.7% → 19.2%
Rent burden+13 points47.6% → 60.1%
Rent / income+4.9 points29.0% → 33.9%
Price / income+0.9×2.4× → 3.3×

All 15 measures

Change of every measure of Hazleton, Pennsylvania between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	22.5 min2015-2019	21.3 min2020-2024	−1.2 min	Within the margin of error	62%
Bachelor's degree or higher	12.5%2015-2019	10.8%2020-2024	−1.7 points	Within the margin of error	17%
Broadband subscriptions	70.7%2015-2019	85.6%2020-2024	+15 points	Improved	79%
Child poverty rate	35.2%2015-2019	31.1%2020-2024	−4 points	Within the margin of error	65%
Effective property tax rate	1.68%2015-2019	1.27%2020-2024	−0.4 points	Improved	85%
High school diploma or higher	74.7%2015-2019	74.6%2020-2024	−0.1 points	Within the margin of error	32%
Home price to income ratio	2.4×2015-2019	3.3×2020-2024	+0.9×	Declined	28%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4452015-2019	0.4462020-2024	+0.001	Within the margin of error	49%
Median household income	$40,4672015-2019	$46,1772020-2024	+14%	Within the margin of error	22%
Poverty rate	22.1%2015-2019	25.0%2020-2024	+2.9 points	Within the margin of error	20%
Public transit commuters	2.2%2015-2019	1.7%2020-2024	−0.4 points	Within the margin of error	21%
Rent as share of income	29.0%2015-2019	33.9%2020-2024	+4.9 points	Declined	23%
Rent-burdened households	47.6%2015-2019	60.1%2020-2024	+13 points	Declined	18%
Unemployment rate	8.2%2015-2019	5.6%2020-2024	−2.6 points	Improved	87%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	12.7%2015-2019	19.2%2020-2024	+6.5 points	Declined	7%

“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 Hazleton, Pennsylvania five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Hazleton, 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, Hazleton, Pennsylvania itself moved −6.7 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

30,111 residents (±32)

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

11,599 households (±605)

Hazleton, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania share

Under $25k30%3,442
$25k–50k23%2,688
$50k–75k22%2,539

Homes

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

Owners and renters

11,599 households (±605)

Hazleton, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania share

Own51%5,927
Rent49%5,672

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

13,205 workers (±809)

Hazleton, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania share

Drive alone69%9,057
Carpool22%2,864
Public transit1.7%†230

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 Hazleton'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 $86.1K of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Hazleton, Pennsylvania: $2.86 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $86.1K; +50% vs FY2025
Per resident: $2.86; US $1,994
Sole-source: 0.0%; US 30%
Single offer: 85%; 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

Department of Veterans Affairs$86.1K100%

Top recipients

THOREN CAGING SYSTEMS INC$86.1K100.0%
RG TENNEY ELECTRIC INC$00.0%

Spending by fiscal year

328.4KFY2017
-49.9KFY2018
79.7KFY2019
341KFY2020
16.5KFY2021
11.4KFY2022
985.9KFY2023
41.9KFY2024

Top industries (NAICS)

Spring and wire product manufacturing · 3326$86.1K100.0%

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

Hazleton, 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: Hazleton 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.

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

House

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.

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
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

JSON · /api/v1/places/4233408

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends