Borough · Bradford County, Pennsylvania

Sayre, Pennsylvania

Sayre is a borough in Bradford County, Pennsylvania, part of the Sayre, PA metro area. It has 5,431 residents. Sayre, Pennsylvania has a quality-of-life score of 52 out of 100 (moderate), ranking #7,450 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Pennsylvania it ranks #681 of 997 cities and towns. It ranks best on hot days (low), mammography screening (high) and drug overdose deaths (low). It ranks worst on unemployment rate (high), broadband subscriptions (low) and comfortable days (low).

52Moderate

Quality-of-life score: #7,450 of 15,651 cities and towns
Pennsylvania: #681 of 997 in PA
Population: 5,431 (2020-2024)
Land area: 2 mi²
Density: 2,687.6 /mi²
FIPS code: 4268096

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#5,661/15,637
Economy23#11,987/15,631
Housing59#6,072/14,977
Health61#6,130/15,609
Healthcare42#9,073/15,650
Environment62#5,802/15,453
Education75#3,859/15,649
Infrastructure15#13,264/15,650
Community66#5,316/15,651
Leisure & amenities46#8,410/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Sayre, Pennsylvania ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Bradford 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 · low2 days
93/100Pennsylvania 7 daysUnited States 42 days2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationBradford County value
Mammography screening · high55.0%
91/100Pennsylvania 51.0%United States 46.0%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteBradford County value
Drug overdose deaths · low8.0 /100k
89/100Pennsylvania 19.6 /100kUnited States 18.4 /100kMar 2025–Feb 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionModel-based estimateProvisional dataBradford County value
Public libraries · high1.7 /10k
88/100Pennsylvania 0.5 /10kUnited States 0.5 /10k2024Institute of Museum and Library ServicesBradford County value
Social associations · high13.9 /10k
86/100Pennsylvania 11.9 /10kUnited States 9.1 /10k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteBradford County value
Primary care physicians · high107 /100k
86/100Pennsylvania 80 /100kUnited States 76 /100k2022University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteBradford County value

Weaknesses

Unemployment rate · high11.9%
6/100Pennsylvania 4.3%United States 4.3%2020-2024U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Census table B23025
Broadband subscriptions · low82.8%
7/100Pennsylvania 89.7%United States 91.0%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B28002
Comfortable days · low23.2%
9/100Pennsylvania 23.8%United States 26.8%2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationBradford County value
New business applications · low8.5 /1k
10/100Pennsylvania 12.4 /1kUnited States 16.6 /1k2025U.S. Census BureauBradford County value
Distance to an airport · high91 mi
13/100Pennsylvania 36 miUnited States 33 mi2025Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauBradford County value
Distance to an Amtrak station · high86 mi
14/100Pennsylvania 21 miUnited States 43 mi2026Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauBradford County value

Trends

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

Child poverty rateImproving
26.5% (2015-2019) → 2.0% (2020-2024)
−25 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Bachelor's degree or higherImproving
21.8% (2015-2019) → 35.7% (2020-2024)
+14 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%
New homes permittedWorsening
0.4 /1k (2021) → 0.2 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
−50%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Unemployment rateWorsening
3.9% (2015-2019) → 11.9% (2020-2024)
+7.9 pts5 yearsCensus table B23025US 3.7% → 4.0%
Poverty rateImproving
15.4% (2015-2019) → 7.8% (2020-2024)
−7.6 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 12.3% → 12.1%
High school diploma or higherImproving
87.4% (2015-2019) → 93.4% (2020-2024)
+6 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 88.0% → 89.6%

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, Sayre, Pennsylvania improved on 2 of 12 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 10 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

Bachelor's++14 points21.8% → 35.7%
Poverty−7.6 points15.4% → 7.8%

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 12 measures

Change of every measure of Sayre, Pennsylvania between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	16.7 min2015-2019	18.5 min2020-2024	+1.8 min	Within the margin of error	29%
Bachelor's degree or higher	21.8%2015-2019	35.7%2020-2024	+14 points	Improved	96%
Broadband subscriptions	83.7%2015-2019	82.8%2020-2024	−0.9 points	Within the margin of error	6%
Effective property tax rate	1.47%2015-2019	1.28%2020-2024	−0.2 points	Within the margin of error	56%
High school diploma or higher	87.4%2015-2019	93.4%2020-2024	+6 points	Within the margin of error	86%
Home price to income ratio	3.1×2015-2019	3.3×2020-2024	+0.2×	Within the margin of error	65%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4812015-2019	0.4632020-2024	−0.018	Within the margin of error	66%
Median household income	$42,5572015-2019	$50,8012020-2024	+19%	Within the margin of error	32%
Poverty rate	15.4%2015-2019	7.8%2020-2024	−7.6 points	Improved	88%
Rent as share of income	27.1%2015-2019	26.3%2020-2024	−0.8 points	Within the margin of error	61%
Rent-burdened households	40.3%2015-2019	39.8%2020-2024	−0.5 points	Within the margin of error	58%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	9.6%2015-2019	9.8%2020-2024	+0.2 points	Within the margin of error	44%

“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 Sayre, Pennsylvania five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Sayre, 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, Sayre, Pennsylvania itself moved +1.6 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

5,431 residents (±16)

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

2,739 households (±270)

Sayre, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania share

Under $25k18%†498
$25k–50k31%†843
$50k–75k

Homes

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

Owners and renters

2,739 households (±270)

Sayre, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania share

Own63%1,712
Rent37%1,027

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Own (+16.9 points).

Table view

Getting to work

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

How people get to work

2,573 workers (±318)

Sayre, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania share

Drive alone73%1,882
Carpool8.2%†212
Public transit0.8%†

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 Sayre, 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 Bradford County, the county holding most of Sayre's residents.

Bradford County has 1,334 employer establishments, 223 for every 10,000 residents (0.90× the US rate of 248; 0.95× Pennsylvania's), with 18,842 paid employees at an average annual pay of $56,270. The Census Bureau also counts 3,711 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 1,334; 3,711 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 223; US 248 · Pennsylvania 236
Paid employees: 18,842
Average annual pay: $56,270; US $68,342

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

Restaurants and other eating places	81	13.6	0.74×Fewer than typical	956	$18,285	12
Truck transportation	81	13.6	2.68×More than typical	925	$64,779	160
Ambulatory health care services	75	12.6	0.60×Fewer than typical	1,858	$108,375	112
Specialty trade contractors	65	10.9	0.70×Fewer than typical	428	$59,631	368
Religious organizations	61	10.2	1.84×More than typical	162	$19,259	—
Automotive repair and maintenance	48	8	1.60×More than typical	194	$38,691	109
Construction of buildings	42	7	0.93×About typical	192	$60,964	223
Full-service restaurants	38	6.4	0.83×About typical	440	$17,711	4
Gasoline stations	38	6.4	1.96×More than typical	484	$19,659	—
Banks and credit unions	34	5.7	1.76×More than typical	248	$64,883	—
Limited-service restaurants	33	5.5	0.69×Fewer than typical	424	$17,052	5
Child day care services	30	5	2.06×More than typical	345	$24,171	42

Rank places for an industry Open Bradford County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 59,722 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 $33.6K of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Sayre, Pennsylvania: $6.19 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $33.6K; −41% vs FY2025
Per resident: $6.19; US $1,994
Sole-source: 21%; US 30%
Single offer: 6.1%; 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

Defense Logistics Agency$27.3K81%
Department of Veterans Affairs$6,33119%

Top recipients

STAVER HYDRAULICS CO., INC.$27.3K81%
PENN-YORK OPPORTUNITIES, INC.$6,33119%

Spending by fiscal year

35KFY2017
40.8KFY2018
47KFY2019
50.6KFY2020
26.5KFY2021
39KFY2022
37.5KFY2023
62.1KFY2024

Top industries (NAICS)

Other fabricated metal product manufacturing · 3329$13.7K41%
Services to buildings and dwellings · 5617$6,33119%
Rubber product manufacturing · 3262$5,05215%
Other miscellaneous manufacturing · 3399$3,2589.7%
Plastics product manufacturing · 3261$2,1286.3%
Machine shops and screw, nut, and bolt manufacturing · 3327$898

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

Sayre, Pennsylvania's figures are part of those of Bradford County, PA ($908.2K in FY2026), never added to them: 3.7% of that total.

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

See federal money in Bradford 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.

Sayre, 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.

Bradford County66100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Sayre, PA62

Other cities and towns in Bradford 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/4268096

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends