Borough · Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania

Shenandoah, Pennsylvania

Shenandoah is a borough in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, part of the Pottsville, PA metro area. It has 4,146 residents. Shenandoah, Pennsylvania has a quality-of-life score of 21 out of 100 (low), ranking #12,340 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Pennsylvania it ranks #993 of 997 cities and towns. It ranks best on home price to income ratio (low), hospital quality rating (high) and mental health care shortage (low). It ranks worst on homicide rate (high), adult smoking (high) and poverty rate (high).

21Low

Quality-of-life score: #12,340 of 15,651 cities and towns
Pennsylvania: #993 of 997 in PA
Population: 4,146 (2020-2024)
Land area: 2 mi²
Density: 2,744.2 /mi²
FIPS code: 4270056

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.

Safety31#10,841/15,637
Economy2#15,254/15,631
Housing53#7,081/14,977
Health16#13,037/15,609
Healthcare40#9,316/15,650
Environment51#7,552/15,453
Education32#10,609/15,649
Infrastructure2#15,411/15,650
Community67#5,126/15,651
Leisure & amenities37#9,780/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

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

Home price to income ratio · low1.1×
100/100Pennsylvania 3.3×United States 4.1×2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25077
Hospital quality rating · high4.3
91/100Pennsylvania 3.5United States 3.2Jul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesSchuylkill County value
Mental health care shortage · low0.0
91/100Pennsylvania 1.0United States 9.9Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationSchuylkill County value
Primary care shortage · low0.0
90/100Pennsylvania 1.0United States 6.2Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationSchuylkill County value
Hot days · low4 days
89/100Pennsylvania 7 daysUnited States 42 days2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationSchuylkill County value
Drug overdose deaths · low8.3 /100k
87/100Pennsylvania 19.6 /100kUnited States 18.4 /100kMar 2025–Feb 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataSchuylkill County value

Weaknesses

Homicide rate · high18.8 /100k
1/100Pennsylvania 4.1 /100kUnited States 4.8 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataSchuylkill County value
Adult smoking · high23.6%
3/100Pennsylvania 15.6%United States 16.1%2022University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate
Poverty rate · high27.7%
6/100Pennsylvania 11.6%United States 12.1%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B17001
Adult obesity · high44.2%
6/100Pennsylvania 32.9%United States 38.2%2022University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate
Child poverty rate · high48.6%
9/100Pennsylvania 15.3%United States 15.5%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B17001
Frequent mental distress · high21.3%
9/100Pennsylvania 15.9%United States 18.6%2022University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate

Trends

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

PopulationFalling
4,820 (2015-2019) → 4,146 (2020-2024)
−14%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
61.6% (2015-2019) → 84.1% (2020-2024)
+22 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Rent-burdened householdsImproving
65.4% (2015-2019) → 53.3% (2020-2024)
−12 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Median household incomeImproving
$28,427 (2015-2019) → $45,294 (2020-2024)
+59%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Average commute timeWorsening
20.4 min (2015-2019) → 30.1 min (2020-2024)
+47%5 yearsCensus table B08013US 26.9 min → 26.4 min
Poverty rateImproving
35.9% (2015-2019) → 27.7% (2020-2024)
−8.2 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, Shenandoah, Pennsylvania improved on 3 of 14 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.

Improved3

Inequality−0.1420.567 → 0.425
Broadband+22 points61.6% → 84.1%
Household income+59%$28,427 → $45,294

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 14 measures

Change of every measure of Shenandoah, Pennsylvania between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	20.4 min2015-2019	30.1 min2020-2024	+9.7 min	Within the margin of error	2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	13.0%2015-2019	13.4%2020-2024	+0.4 points	Within the margin of error	30%
Broadband subscriptions	61.6%2015-2019	84.1%2020-2024	+22 points	Improved	93%
Child poverty rate	47.9%2015-2019	48.6%2020-2024	+0.7 points	Within the margin of error	36%
Effective property tax rate	2.01%2015-2019	1.35%2020-2024	−0.7 points	Within the margin of error	96%
High school diploma or higher	84.2%2015-2019	83.0%2020-2024	−1.2 points	Within the margin of error	21%
Home price to income ratio	1.0×2015-2019	1.1×2020-2024	+0.1×	Within the margin of error	74%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.5672015-2019	0.4252020-2024	−0.142	Improved	99%
Median household income	$28,4272015-2019	$45,2942020-2024	+59%	Improved	90%
Poverty rate	35.9%2015-2019	27.7%2020-2024	−8.2 points	Within the margin of error	90%
Rent as share of income	35.9%2015-2019	31.6%2020-2024	−4.3 points	Within the margin of error	80%
Rent-burdened households	65.4%2015-2019	53.3%2020-2024	−12 points	Within the margin of error	86%
Unemployment rate	16.4%2015-2019	9.4%2020-2024	−6.9 points	Within the margin of error	98%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	9.2%2015-2019	14.5%2020-2024	+5.3 points	Within the margin of error	10%

“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 Shenandoah, Pennsylvania five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Shenandoah, 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, Shenandoah, Pennsylvania itself moved +6.3 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

4,146 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

1,618 households (±184)

Shenandoah, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania share

Under $25k26%†422
$25k–50k29%†469
$50k–75k

Homes

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

Owners and renters

1,618 households (±184)

Shenandoah, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania share

Own67%1,090
Rent33%528

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

1,526 workers (±238)

Shenandoah, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania share

Drive alone81%1,236
Carpool12%†188
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 Pottsville, 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 Schuylkill County, the county holding most of Shenandoah's residents.

Schuylkill County has 2,705 employer establishments, 188 for every 10,000 residents (0.76× the US rate of 248; 0.80× Pennsylvania's), with 41,596 paid employees at an average annual pay of $50,547. The Census Bureau also counts 7,831 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 2,705; 7,831 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 188; US 248 · Pennsylvania 236
Paid employees: 41,596
Average annual pay: $50,547; US $68,342

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

Ambulatory health care services	228	15.8	0.76×Fewer than typical	2,387	$61,165	250
Restaurants and other eating places	176	12.2	0.67×Fewer than typical	2,215	$16,706	73
Specialty trade contractors	149	10.4	0.67×Fewer than typical	1,006	$63,690	721
Religious organizations	135	9.4	1.69×More than typical	533	$16,747	—
Full-service restaurants	98	6.8	0.89×About typical	1,294	$16,762	21
Automotive repair and maintenance	96	6.7	1.32×More than typical	321	$43,411	225
Offices of physicians	95	6.6	1.02×About typical	791	$91,321	37
Truck transportation	86	6	1.18×About typical	1,921	$73,865	221
Construction of buildings	68	4.7	0.62×Fewer than typical	572	$61,941	283
Building equipment contractors	62	4.3	0.72×Fewer than typical	402	$63,955	152
Offices of other health practitioners	61	4.2	0.70×Fewer than typical	297	$44,949	119
Services to buildings and dwellings	60	4.2	0.62×Fewer than typical	258	$40,136	413

Rank places for an industry Open Schuylkill County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 143,892 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 Shenandoah, Pennsylvania: $0 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $0
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

1.5KFY2017
63KFY2018
0FY2019
0FY2021

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

Shenandoah, Pennsylvania's figures are part of those of Schuylkill County, PA ($9.5M 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: Shenandoah is mostly in Schuylkill County.

See federal money in Schuylkill 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.

Shenandoah, 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.

Schuylkill County57100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Pottsville, PA41

Other cities and towns in Schuylkill 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/4270056

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends