Borough · Blair County, Pennsylvania

Roaring Spring, Pennsylvania

Roaring Spring is a borough in Blair County, Pennsylvania, part of the Altoona, PA metro area. It has 2,335 residents. Roaring Spring, Pennsylvania has a quality-of-life score of 59 out of 100 (moderate), ranking #6,383 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Pennsylvania it ranks #554 of 997 cities and towns. It ranks best on distance to an Amtrak station (low), social associations (high) and income inequality (Gini index) (low). It ranks worst on new business applications (low), child care cost burden (high) and new homes permitted (low).

59Moderate

Quality-of-life score: #6,383 of 15,651 cities and towns
Pennsylvania: #554 of 997 in PA
Population: 2,335 (2020-2024)
Land area: 1 mi²
Density: 2,900.1 /mi²
FIPS code: 4265256

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.

Safety64#5,690/15,637
Economy32#10,559/15,631
Housing54#6,895/14,977
Health38#9,641/15,609
Healthcare77#3,625/15,650
Environment78#3,431/15,453
Education68#5,006/15,649
Infrastructure18#12,855/15,650
Community74#4,132/15,651
Leisure & amenities52#7,535/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

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

Distance to an Amtrak station · low5 mi
98/100Pennsylvania 21 miUnited States 43 mi2026Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauBlair County value
Social associations · high18.8 /10k
97/100Pennsylvania 11.9 /10kUnited States 9.1 /10k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteBlair County value
Income inequality (Gini index) · low0.357
93/100Pennsylvania 0.474United States 0.4832020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B19083
Students per teacher · low11.4×
91/100Pennsylvania 13.1×United States 15.2×2024National Center for Education StatisticsBlair County value
Hospital quality rating · high4.3
91/100Pennsylvania 3.5United States 3.2Jul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesBlair County value
Uninsured residents (under 65) · low2.6%
88/100Pennsylvania 7.2%United States 9.8%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B27010High uncertainty

Weaknesses

New business applications · low8.2 /1k
8/100Pennsylvania 12.4 /1kUnited States 16.6 /1k2025U.S. Census BureauBlair County value
Child care cost burden · high39.0%
11/100Pennsylvania 34.6%United States 27.9%2023 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteBlair County value
New homes permitted · low0.0 /1k
13/100Pennsylvania 2.0 /1kUnited States 4.2 /1kSep 2025–Aug 2026U.S. Census BureauProvisional data
Distance to an airport · high88 mi
14/100Pennsylvania 36 miUnited States 33 mi2025Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauBlair County value
Dental care shortage · high16.0
18/100Pennsylvania 4.8United States 5.7Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationBlair County value
Drug overdose deaths · high24.1 /100k
19/100Pennsylvania 19.6 /100kUnited States 18.4 /100kMar 2025–Feb 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataBlair County value

Trends

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

PopulationFalling
2,531 (2015-2019) → 2,335 (2020-2024)
−7.7%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Average commute timeWorsening
21.9 min (2015-2019) → 38.5 min (2020-2024)
+76%5 yearsCensus table B08013US 26.9 min → 26.4 min
Bachelor's degree or higherImproving
15.3% (2015-2019) → 21.1% (2020-2024)
+5.8 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%
Unemployment rateImproving
7.0% (2015-2019) → 1.7% (2020-2024)
−5.3 pts5 yearsCensus table B23025US 3.7% → 4.0%
Median household incomeImproving
$51,875 (2015-2019) → $62,738 (2020-2024)
+21%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Uninsured residents (under 65)Improving
6.7% (2015-2019) → 2.6% (2020-2024)
−4.1 pts5 yearsCensus table B27010US 10.8% → 9.8%

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, Roaring Spring, Pennsylvania improved on 1 of 12 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.

Improved1

Household income+21%$51,875 → $62,738

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 12 measures

Change of every measure of Roaring Spring, Pennsylvania between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	21.9 min2015-2019	38.5 min2020-2024	+16.7 min	Within the margin of error	0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.3%2015-2019	21.1%2020-2024	+5.8 points	Within the margin of error	73%
Broadband subscriptions	88.1%2015-2019	89.9%2020-2024	+1.7 points	Within the margin of error	14%
Child poverty rate	24.8%2015-2019	22.4%2020-2024	−2.4 points	Within the margin of error	58%
Effective property tax rate	1.38%2015-2019	1.38%2020-2024	+0 points	Within the margin of error	16%
High school diploma or higher	94.8%2015-2019	96.7%2020-2024	+1.9 points	Within the margin of error	57%
Home price to income ratio	2.2×2015-2019	2.3×2020-2024	+0.1×	Within the margin of error	76%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.3922015-2019	0.3572020-2024	−0.035	Within the margin of error	77%
Median household income	$51,8752015-2019	$62,7382020-2024	+21%	Improved	35%
Poverty rate	15.8%2015-2019	13.4%2020-2024	−2.4 points	Within the margin of error	65%
Rent as share of income	30.9%2015-2019	29.4%2020-2024	−1.5 points	Within the margin of error	66%
Rent-burdened households	52.1%2015-2019	48.7%2020-2024	−3.4 points	Within the margin of error	67%

“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 Roaring Spring, Pennsylvania five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Roaring Spring, 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, Roaring Spring, Pennsylvania itself moved −3.6 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

2,335 residents (±285)

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

956 households (±106)

Roaring Spring, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania share

Under $25k15%†142
$25k–50k25%236
$50k–75k21%†

Homes

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

Owners and renters

956 households (±106)

Roaring Spring, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania share

Own79%752
Rent21%204

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

1,229 workers (±236)

Roaring Spring, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania share

Drive alone87%1,074
Carpool6.7%†82
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 Altoona, 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 Blair County, the county holding most of Roaring Spring's residents.

Blair County has 3,178 employer establishments, 264 for every 10,000 residents (1.06× the US rate of 248; 1.12× Pennsylvania's), with 53,149 paid employees at an average annual pay of $52,093. The Census Bureau also counts 6,996 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 3,178; 6,996 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 264; US 248 · Pennsylvania 236
Paid employees: 53,149
Average annual pay: $52,093; US $68,342

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

Ambulatory health care services	307	25.5	1.22×About typical	4,576	$70,067	265
Restaurants and other eating places	229	19	1.04×About typical	4,401	$18,122	32
Specialty trade contractors	185	15.4	0.99×About typical	1,462	$55,865	557
Religious organizations	157	13	2.35×More than typical	772	$21,632	—
Offices of physicians	119	9.9	1.53×More than typical	2,008	$102,919	53
Limited-service restaurants	112	9.3	1.16×About typical	1,729	$16,501	14
Construction of buildings	99	8.2	1.09×About typical	1,183	$48,260	219
Automotive repair and maintenance	90	7.5	1.48×More than typical	466	$46,712	146
Personal care services	88	7.3	1.53×More than typical	432	$26,463	193
Full-service restaurants	84	7	0.91×About typical	2,337	$19,451	11
Lessors of real estate	82	6.8	0.55×Fewer than typical	299	$41,338	885
Offices of other health practitioners	80	6.6	1.09×About typical	508	$44,370	143

Rank places for an industry Open Blair County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 120,360 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 $17.7K of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Roaring Spring, Pennsylvania: $7.56 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $17.7K; +734% vs FY2025
Per resident: $7.56; 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

National Institute of Standards and Technology$13.3K75%
Department of the Air Force$4,35025%

Top recipients

MACINNIS GROUP LLC$13.3K75%
DEFENSHIELD, INC.$4,35025%

Spending by fiscal year

501.1FY2017
586.5FY2018
4.4KFY2019
934.5FY2020
920.5FY2021
39.6FY2022
18.5KFY2023
13.8KFY2024

Top industries (NAICS)

Cement and concrete product manufacturing · 3273$13.3K75%
Other fabricated metal product manufacturing · 3329$4,35025%

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 Roaring Spring, Pennsylvania, so they do not add up across cities.

Roaring Spring, Pennsylvania's figures are part of those of Blair County, PA ($40.3M 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: Roaring Spring is mostly in Blair County.

See federal money in Blair 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.

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

House

John JoyceR-PA-13 · 100% of residentsWith party 99%Missed 0.1%

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.

Blair County75100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Altoona, PA67

Other cities and towns in Blair 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/4265256

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends