Census-designated place · Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania

Simpson, Pennsylvania

Simpson is a census-designated place in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, part of the Scranton--Wilkes-Barre, PA metro area. It has 1,475 residents. Simpson, Pennsylvania has a quality-of-life score of 64 out of 100 (high), ranking #5,610 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Pennsylvania it ranks #452 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 child care cost burden (high), distance to an airport (high) and distance to an Amtrak station (high).

64High

Quality-of-life score: #5,610 of 15,651 cities and towns
Pennsylvania: #452 of 997 in PA
Population: 1,475 (2020-2024)
Land area: 1 mi²
Density: 1,670.3 /mi²
FIPS code: 4270840

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 72 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.

Safety58#6,535/15,637
Economy39#9,567/15,631
Housing54#6,899/14,977
Health45#8,535/15,609
Healthcare78#3,490/15,650
Environment78#3,392/15,453
Education45#8,575/15,649
Infrastructure52#7,482/15,650
Community72#4,362/15,651
Leisure & amenities61#6,033/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Simpson, Pennsylvania ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Lackawanna 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 InformationLackawanna County value
Mental health care shortage · low0.0
91/100Pennsylvania 1.0United States 9.9Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationLackawanna County value
Primary care shortage · low0.0
90/100Pennsylvania 1.0United States 6.2Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationLackawanna County value
Broadband subscriptions · high97.2%
89/100Pennsylvania 89.7%United States 91.0%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B28002
Pharmacies · high2.5 /10k
88/100Pennsylvania 1.9 /10kUnited States 1.8 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsLackawanna County value
Unemployment rate · low1.5%
87/100Pennsylvania 4.3%United States 4.3%2020-2024U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Census table B23025High uncertainty

Weaknesses

Child care cost burden · high42.4%
4/100Pennsylvania 34.6%United States 27.9%2023 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteLackawanna County value
Distance to an airport · high92 mi
12/100Pennsylvania 36 miUnited States 33 mi2025Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauLackawanna County value
Distance to an Amtrak station · high88 mi
13/100Pennsylvania 21 miUnited States 43 mi2026Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauLackawanna County value
Comfortable days · low23.6%
14/100Pennsylvania 23.8%United States 26.8%2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationLackawanna County value
Dental care shortage · high16.0
18/100Pennsylvania 4.8United States 5.7Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationLackawanna County value
Hospital quality rating · low2.5
18/100Pennsylvania 3.5United States 3.2Jul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesLackawanna County value

Trends

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

PopulationRising
1,114 (2015-2019) → 1,475 (2020-2024)
+32%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
75.2% (2015-2019) → 97.2% (2020-2024)
+22 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Home price to income ratioWorsening
1.9× (2015-2019) → 3.0× (2020-2024)
+57%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×
Poverty rateImproving
20.2% (2015-2019) → 9.2% (2020-2024)
−11 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 12.3% → 12.1%
Child poverty rateImproving
24.6% (2015-2019) → 15.2% (2020-2024)
−9.3 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Unemployment rateImproving
6.3% (2015-2019) → 1.6% (2020-2024)
−4.7 pts5 yearsCensus table B23025US 3.7% → 4.0%

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, Simpson, Pennsylvania improved on 1 of 10 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 9 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+22 points75.2% → 97.2%

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 10 measures

Change of every measure of Simpson, Pennsylvania between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	23.9 min2015-2019	23.4 min2020-2024	−0.6 min	Within the margin of error	55%
Bachelor's degree or higher	16.2%2015-2019	18.2%2020-2024	+2 points	Within the margin of error	43%
Broadband subscriptions	75.2%2015-2019	97.2%2020-2024	+22 points	Improved	93%
Effective property tax rate	1.44%2015-2019	1.18%2020-2024	−0.3 points	Within the margin of error	69%
High school diploma or higher	91.4%2015-2019	94.0%2020-2024	+2.7 points	Within the margin of error	65%
Home price to income ratio	1.9×2015-2019	3.0×2020-2024	+1.1×	Within the margin of error	19%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4502015-2019	0.3972020-2024	−0.053	Within the margin of error	85%
Median household income	$45,4812015-2019	$52,8752020-2024	+16%	Within the margin of error	26%
Rent as share of income	29.8%2015-2019	32.5%2020-2024	+2.7 points	Within the margin of error	35%
Rent-burdened households	49.7%2015-2019	54.1%2020-2024	+4.4 points	Within the margin of error	40%

“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 Simpson, Pennsylvania five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Simpson, 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, Simpson, Pennsylvania itself moved +5.8 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

1,475 residents (±432)

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

614 households (±137)

Simpson, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania share

Under $25k16%†100
$25k–50k31%†191
$50k–75k

Homes

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

Owners and renters

614 households (±137)

Simpson, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania share

Own74%455
Rent26%†159

No change since 2015–2019 is larger than the margin of error.

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

Getting to work

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

How people get to work

758 workers (±297)

Simpson, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania share

Drive alone81%†612
Carpool14%†105
Public transit

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 Lackawanna County, the county holding most of Simpson's residents.

Lackawanna County has 5,198 employer establishments, 240 for every 10,000 residents (0.97× the US rate of 248; 1.02× Pennsylvania's), with 91,059 paid employees at an average annual pay of $49,322. The Census Bureau also counts 14,632 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 5,198; 14,632 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 240; US 248 · Pennsylvania 236
Paid employees: 91,059
Average annual pay: $49,322; US $68,342

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

Ambulatory health care services	530	24.5	1.18×About typical	8,852	$69,652	824
Restaurants and other eating places	440	20.3	1.11×About typical	6,220	$19,056	118
Specialty trade contractors	304	14.1	0.91×About typical	2,235	$69,315	939
Full-service restaurants	216	10	1.30×More than typical	3,187	$19,404	56
Offices of physicians	197	9.1	1.41×More than typical	3,054	$102,570	155
Limited-service restaurants	176	8.1	1.01×About typical	2,367	$19,299	52
Legal services	161	7.4	1.38×More than typical	698	$84,944	261
Religious organizations	139	6.4	1.16×About typical	883	$22,843	—
Offices of other health practitioners	135	6.2	1.03×About typical	1,016	$54,478	442
Lessors of real estate	132	6.1	0.50×Fewer than typical	399	$48,233	1,743
Automotive repair and maintenance	130	6	1.19×About typical	463	$76,721	218
Construction of buildings	128	5.9	0.78×Fewer than typical	697	$55,799	471

Rank places for an industry Open Lackawanna County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 216,257 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 $949.6K of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Simpson, Pennsylvania: $644 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $949.6K; −71% vs FY2025
Per resident: $644; US $1,994
Sole-source: 30%; US 30%
Single offer: 27%; 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$500K53%
Department of the Air Force$205.1K22%
Department of the Navy$131.6K14%
Department of the Army$87.2K9.2%
U.S. Special Operations Command$15.9K1.7%
U.S. Coast Guard$9,6771.0%
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration$1610.0%

Top recipients

GENTEX CORPORATION$949.6K100%

Spending by fiscal year

1.4MFY2017
1.4MFY2018
1.2MFY2019
916.1KFY2020
1.1MFY2021
1.3MFY2022
999.7KFY2023
3.1M

Top industries (NAICS)

Apparel accessories and other apparel manufacturing · 3159$219.4K23%
Semiconductor and other electronic component manufacturing · 3344$205.4K22%
Aerospace product and parts manufacturing · 3364$198.5K21%
Other miscellaneous manufacturing · 3399$167K18%
Medical equipment and supplies manufacturing · 3391$87.9K9.3%
Cut and sew apparel manufacturing · 3152$34.2K

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

Simpson, Pennsylvania's figures are part of those of Lackawanna County, PA ($102.7M in FY2026), never added to them: 0.9% of that total.

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

See federal money in Lackawanna 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.

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

House

Robert P. Bresnahan, Jr.R-PA-8 · 100% of residentsWith party 92%Missed 0.9%

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.

Lackawanna County68100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Scranton--Wilkes-Barre, PA61

Other cities and towns in Lackawanna 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
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/4270840

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends