Borough · Northumberland County, Pennsylvania

Milton, Pennsylvania

Milton is a borough in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, part of the Sunbury, PA metro area. It has 6,534 residents. Milton, Pennsylvania has a quality-of-life score of 32 out of 100 (low), ranking #10,602 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Pennsylvania it ranks #947 of 997 cities and towns. It ranks best on mammography screening (high), social associations (high) and mental health care shortage (low). It ranks worst on new business applications (low), mental health providers (low) and adult smoking (high).

32Low

Quality-of-life score: #10,602 of 15,651 cities and towns
Pennsylvania: #947 of 997 in PA
Population: 6,534 (2020-2024)
Land area: 3 mi²
Density: 1,883.6 /mi²
FIPS code: 4250016

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 69 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.

Safety81#2,905/15,637
Economy17#13,031/15,631
Housing46#8,073/14,977
Health29#11,031/15,609
Healthcare40#9,340/15,650
Environment43#8,843/15,453
Education46#8,383/15,649
Infrastructure11#13,997/15,650
Community60#6,235/15,651
Leisure & amenities24#11,871/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

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

Mammography screening · high58.0%
97/100Pennsylvania 51.0%United States 46.0%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteNorthumberland County value
Social associations · high15.8 /10k
93/100Pennsylvania 11.9 /10kUnited States 9.1 /10k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteNorthumberland County value
Mental health care shortage · low0.0
91/100Pennsylvania 1.0United States 9.9Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationNorthumberland County value
Primary care shortage · low0.0
90/100Pennsylvania 1.0United States 6.2Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationNorthumberland County value
Drinking water violations · low0
86/100Pennsylvania 1United States 02024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteNorthumberland County value
Property crime rate · low576 /100k
85/100Pennsylvania 1,324 /100kUnited States 1,535 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationNorthumberland County value

Weaknesses

New business applications · low7.8 /1k
6/100Pennsylvania 12.4 /1kUnited States 16.6 /1k2025U.S. Census BureauNorthumberland County value
Mental health providers · low70 /100k
9/100Pennsylvania 308 /100kUnited States 348 /100k2025University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteNorthumberland County value
Adult smoking · high20.8%
10/100Pennsylvania 15.6%United States 16.1%2022University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate
Arts, entertainment and recreation · low2.1 /10k
13/100Pennsylvania 4.6 /10kUnited States 5.5 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsNorthumberland County value
New homes permitted · low0.0 /1k
13/100Pennsylvania 2.0 /1kUnited States 4.2 /1kSep 2025–Aug 2026U.S. Census BureauProvisional data
Gyms and fitness centers · low0.4 /10k
14/100Pennsylvania 1.3 /10kUnited States 1.3 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsNorthumberland County value

Trends

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

Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
28.9% (2015-2019) → 47.2% (2020-2024)
+18 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
74.5% (2015-2019) → 87.2% (2020-2024)
+13 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Child poverty rateWorsening
19.9% (2015-2019) → 29.7% (2020-2024)
+9.9 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Home price to income ratioWorsening
2.7× (2015-2019) → 3.6× (2020-2024)
+34%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×
High school diploma or higherImproving
86.9% (2015-2019) → 93.2% (2020-2024)
+6.4 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 88.0% → 89.6%
Rent as share of incomeWorsening
21.2% (2015-2019) → 27.5% (2020-2024)
+6.3 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, Milton, Pennsylvania improved on 1 of 14 measures with a comparison and declined on 1. 12 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.

Improved1

Broadband+13 points74.5% → 87.2%

Declined1

Rent burden+18 points28.9% → 47.2%

All 14 measures

Change of every measure of Milton, Pennsylvania between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	19.6 min2015-2019	22.8 min2020-2024	+3.2 min	Within the margin of error	18%
Bachelor's degree or higher	16.5%2015-2019	19.9%2020-2024	+3.3 points	Within the margin of error	54%
Broadband subscriptions	74.5%2015-2019	87.2%2020-2024	+13 points	Improved	72%
Child poverty rate	19.9%2015-2019	29.7%2020-2024	+9.9 points	Within the margin of error	12%
Effective property tax rate	1.42%2015-2019	1.18%2020-2024	−0.2 points	Within the margin of error	64%
High school diploma or higher	86.9%2015-2019	93.2%2020-2024	+6.4 points	Within the margin of error	88%
Home price to income ratio	2.7×2015-2019	3.6×2020-2024	+0.9×	Within the margin of error	25%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4422015-2019	0.3872020-2024	−0.054	Within the margin of error	86%
Median household income	$49,0002015-2019	$54,5772020-2024	+11%	Within the margin of error	18%
Poverty rate	13.3%2015-2019	15.2%2020-2024	+1.9 points	Within the margin of error	27%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent as share of income	21.2%2015-2019	27.5%2020-2024	+6.3 points	Within the margin of error	17%
Rent-burdened households	28.9%2015-2019	47.2%2020-2024	+18 points	Declined	10%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	5.4%2015-2019	6.1%2020-2024	+0.7 points	Within the margin of error	38%

“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 Milton, Pennsylvania five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Milton, 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, Milton, Pennsylvania itself moved −4.2 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

6,534 residents (±23)

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

2,843 households (±218)

Milton, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania share

Under $25k13%†372
$25k–50k31%877
$50k–75k23%†643

Homes

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

Owners and renters

2,843 households (±218)

Milton, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania share

Own48%1,373
Rent52%1,470

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Own (−10.7 points).

Table view

Getting to work

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

How people get to work

3,394 workers (±262)

Milton, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania share

Drive alone77%2,619
Carpool6.3%†214
Public transit0.0%0

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 Sunbury, 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 Northumberland County, the county holding most of Milton's residents.

Northumberland County has 1,611 employer establishments, 179 for every 10,000 residents (0.72× the US rate of 248; 0.76× Pennsylvania's), with 23,047 paid employees at an average annual pay of $49,585. The Census Bureau also counts 5,069 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 1,611; 5,069 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 179; US 248 · Pennsylvania 236
Paid employees: 23,047
Average annual pay: $49,585; US $68,342

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

Ambulatory health care services	128	14.2	0.68×Fewer than typical	1,001	$65,211	129
Restaurants and other eating places	121	13.4	0.73×Fewer than typical	1,316	$16,862	29
Religious organizations	103	11.4	2.06×More than typical	370	$16,568	—
Specialty trade contractors	97	10.8	0.70×Fewer than typical	604	$55,197	448
Full-service restaurants	63	7	0.91×About typical	700	$15,914	8
Truck transportation	61	6.8	1.34×More than typical	1,091	$62,357	167
Offices of physicians	51	5.7	0.87×About typical	378	$91,302	14
Limited-service restaurants	50	5.5	0.69×Fewer than typical	546	$16,811	17
Construction of buildings	49	5.4	0.72×Fewer than typical	366	$59,511	208
Automotive repair and maintenance	48	5.3	1.06×About typical	163	$41,730	98
Offices of other health practitioners	38	4.2	0.69×Fewer than typical	175	$42,377	61
Building equipment contractors	37	4.1	0.68×Fewer than typical	300	$48,607	67

Rank places for an industry Open Northumberland County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 90,139 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 $2,269 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Milton, Pennsylvania: $0.35 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $2,269
Per resident: $0.35; US $1,994
Sole-source: 0.0%; 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 Prison Industries / Unicor$2,269100%

Top recipients

SJR-JLC, LLC$2,269100%

Spending by fiscal year

80.1KFY2017
67.2KFY2018
72.9KFY2019
32.3KFY2020
15.7KFY2021
-183.5FY2022
2.3KFY2026

What was bought

Education & social services

Top industries (NAICS)

Technical and trade schools · 6115$2,269100%

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

Milton, Pennsylvania's figures are part of those of Northumberland County, PA ($8.7M 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: Milton is mostly in Northumberland County.

See federal money in Northumberland 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.

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

House

Daniel MeuserR-PA-9 · 100% of residentsWith party 98%Missed 5.2%

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.

Northumberland County53100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Sunbury, PA57

Other cities and towns in Northumberland 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/4250016

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends