Borough · Venango County, Pennsylvania

Sugarcreek, Pennsylvania

Sugarcreek is a borough in Venango County, Pennsylvania, part of the Oil City, PA metro area. It has 4,716 residents. Sugarcreek, Pennsylvania has a quality-of-life score of 38 out of 100 (low), ranking #9,727 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Pennsylvania it ranks #907 of 997 cities and towns. It ranks best on social associations (high), home price to income ratio (low) and hot days (low). It ranks worst on firearm deaths (high), suicide rate (high) and new business applications (low).

38Low

Quality-of-life score: #9,727 of 15,651 cities and towns
Pennsylvania: #907 of 997 in PA
Population: 4,716 (2020-2024)
Land area: 38 mi²
Density: 125.7 /mi²
FIPS code: 4275000

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.

Safety53#7,385/15,637
Economy20#12,518/15,631
Housing72#4,182/14,977
Health17#12,988/15,609
Healthcare43#8,868/15,650
Environment46#8,302/15,453
Education49#8,008/15,649
Infrastructure32#10,658/15,650
Community68#5,081/15,651
Leisure & amenities31#10,768/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

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

Social associations · high22.3 /10k
99/100Pennsylvania 11.9 /10kUnited States 9.1 /10k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteVenango County value
Home price to income ratio · low1.7×
97/100Pennsylvania 3.3×United States 4.1×2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25077
Hot days · low3 days
91/100Pennsylvania 7 daysUnited States 42 days2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationVenango County value
Mental health care shortage · low0.0
91/100Pennsylvania 1.0United States 9.9Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationVenango County value
Property crime rate · low635 /100k
81/100Pennsylvania 1,324 /100kUnited States 1,535 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationVenango County value
Students per teacher · low12.2×
81/100Pennsylvania 13.1×United States 15.2×2024National Center for Education StatisticsVenango County value

Weaknesses

Firearm deaths · high36.4 /100k
1/100Pennsylvania 11.2 /100kUnited States 12.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataVenango County value
Suicide rate · high38.4 /100k
1/100Pennsylvania 14.2 /100kUnited States 14.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataVenango County value
New business applications · low7.3 /1k
3/100Pennsylvania 12.4 /1kUnited States 16.6 /1k2025U.S. Census BureauVenango County value
Gyms and fitness centers · low0.0 /10k
4/100Pennsylvania 1.3 /10kUnited States 1.3 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsVenango County value
Preventable hospital stays · high3,912 /100k
10/100Pennsylvania 3,115 /100kUnited States 2,769 /100k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteVenango County value
Drug overdose deaths · high28.3 /100k
11/100Pennsylvania 19.6 /100kUnited States 18.4 /100kMar 2025–Feb 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataVenango County value

Trends

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

PopulationFalling
5,014 (2015-2019) → 4,716 (2020-2024)
−5.9%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
74.8% (2015-2019) → 86.1% (2020-2024)
+11 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
New homes permittedWorsening
1.4 /1k (2021) → 0.6 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
−56%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Median household incomeImproving
$42,315 (2015-2019) → $63,987 (2020-2024)
+51%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Rent-burdened householdsImproving
46.6% (2015-2019) → 38.7% (2020-2024)
−8 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Bachelor's degree or higherImproving
9.0% (2015-2019) → 15.9% (2020-2024)
+6.8 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%

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, Sugarcreek, Pennsylvania improved on 3 of 13 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 9 moved within the margin of error and 1 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

Household income+51%$42,315 → $63,987
Bachelor's++6.8 points9.0% → 15.9%
Broadband+11 points74.8% → 86.1%

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 13 measures

Change of every measure of Sugarcreek, Pennsylvania between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	21.4 min2015-2019	19.1 min2020-2024	−2.4 min	Within the margin of error	74%
Bachelor's degree or higher	9.0%2015-2019	15.9%2020-2024	+6.8 points	Improved	79%
Broadband subscriptions	74.8%2015-2019	86.1%2020-2024	+11 points	Improved	66%
Child poverty rate	20.4%2015-2019	19.7%2020-2024	−0.8 points	Within the margin of error	49%
Effective property tax rate	1.39%2015-2019	1.05%2020-2024	−0.3 points	Little change	79%
High school diploma or higher	89.5%2015-2019	93.8%2020-2024	+4.3 points	Within the margin of error	78%
Home price to income ratio	1.8×2015-2019	1.7×2020-2024	−0.1×	Within the margin of error	84%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.3662015-2019	0.3832020-2024	+0.018	Within the margin of error	36%
Median household income	$42,3152015-2019	$63,9872020-2024	+51%	Improved	86%
Poverty rate	11.2%2015-2019	9.9%2020-2024	−1.3 points	Within the margin of error	57%
Rent-burdened households	46.6%2015-2019	38.7%2020-2024	−8 points	Within the margin of error	78%
Unemployment rate	6.3%2015-2019	6.7%2020-2024	+0.3 points	Within the margin of error	41%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	8.4%2015-2019	7.1%2020-2024	−1.3 points	Within the margin of error	62%

“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 Sugarcreek, Pennsylvania five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Sugarcreek, 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, Sugarcreek, Pennsylvania itself moved +9.3 points in standing on average over the same 9 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

4,716 residents (±34)

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

1,989 households (±135)

Sugarcreek, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania share

Under $25k11%†214
$25k–50k23%†452
$50k–75k

Homes

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

Owners and renters

1,989 households (±135)

Sugarcreek, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania share

Own86%1,709
Rent14%†280

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Own (+10.2 points).

† 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

1,818 workers (±242)

Sugarcreek, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania share

Drive alone84%1,531
Carpool3.0%†55
Public transit1.3%†23

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 Oil City, 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 Venango County, the county holding most of Sugarcreek's residents.

Venango County has 1,134 employer establishments, 229 for every 10,000 residents (0.92× the US rate of 248; 0.97× Pennsylvania's), with 14,230 paid employees at an average annual pay of $42,594. The Census Bureau also counts 2,829 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 1,134; 2,829 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 229; US 248 · Pennsylvania 236
Paid employees: 14,230
Average annual pay: $42,594; US $68,342

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

Ambulatory health care services	103	20.8	1.00×About typical	1,266	$58,981	91
Religious organizations	82	16.6	2.99×More than typical	293	$16,720	—
Restaurants and other eating places	68	13.7	0.75×Fewer than typical	1,068	$15,350	15
Specialty trade contractors	63	12.7	0.82×About typical	334	$46,305	242
Offices of physicians	44	8.9	1.37×More than typical	630	$78,616	12
Full-service restaurants	32	6.5	0.84×About typical	596	$15,386	8
Automotive repair and maintenance	31	6.3	1.24×About typical	144	$41,979	68
Offices of other health practitioners	28	5.7	0.93×About typical	258	$31,771	50
Individual and family services	27	5.5	1.95×More than typical	301	$28,551	5
Limited-service restaurants	27	5.5	0.68×Fewer than typical	427	$14,890	3
Truck transportation	26	5.3	1.04×About typical	350	$72,297	73
Construction of buildings	25	5.1	0.67×Fewer than typical	95	$38,032	122

Rank places for an industry Open Venango County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 49,490 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 $18.6K of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Sugarcreek, Pennsylvania: $3.93 per resident (US $1,995).

Obligations: $18.6K; −90% vs FY2025
Per resident: $3.93; US $1,995
Sole-source: 38%; 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

Top recipients

SHIELD SERVICES LLC$6,83937%
GUARDIAN ELDER CARE AT OIL CITY, LLC$4,77826%
HR CONTROL SOLUTIONS LLC$2,72515%
PIONEER ENERGY PRODUCTS, LLC$2,28212%
GERMRIP LLC$1,4968.1%

Spending by fiscal year

87.8KFY2017
282.1KFY2018
255.5KFY2019
362.3KFY2020
499.7KFY2021
268.5KFY2022
342.4KFY2023
356K

Top industries (NAICS)

Services to buildings and dwellings · 5617$11.1K60%
Nursing care facilities (skilled nursing facilities) · 6231$4,77826%
Communications equipment manufacturing · 3342$2,28212%
Waste treatment and disposal · 5622$4312.3%

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 6, 2026, loaded Oct 6, 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 Sugarcreek, Pennsylvania, so they do not add up across cities.

Sugarcreek, Pennsylvania's figures are part of those of Venango County, PA ($174.4K in FY2026), never added to them: 11% of that total.

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

See federal money in Venango 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.

Sugarcreek, Pennsylvania is split between congressional districts: each representative is shown with the share of its residents in their district (current boundaries).

House

Senate

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Venango County60100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Oil City, PA44

Other cities and towns in Venango 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/4275000

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends