Borough · Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania

Vandergrift, Pennsylvania

Vandergrift is a borough in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, part of the Pittsburgh, PA metro area. It has 5,011 residents. Vandergrift, Pennsylvania has a quality-of-life score of 61 out of 100 (high), ranking #6,136 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Pennsylvania it ranks #518 of 997 cities and towns. It ranks best on drought exposure (low), home price to income ratio (low) and reading scores (high). It ranks worst on child poverty rate (high), adult smoking (high) and new business applications (low).

61High

Quality-of-life score: #6,136 of 15,651 cities and towns
Pennsylvania: #518 of 997 in PA
Population: 5,011 (2020-2024)
Land area: 1 mi²
Density: 3,683.1 /mi²
FIPS code: 4279776

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.

Safety73#4,254/15,637
Economy10#13,992/15,631
Housing63#5,554/14,977
Health25#11,708/15,609
Healthcare78#3,410/15,650
Environment62#5,845/15,453
Education69#4,886/15,649
Infrastructure41#9,298/15,650
Community91#1,424/15,651
Leisure & amenities51#7,686/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

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

Drought exposure · low0%
96/100Pennsylvania 26%United States 43%Oct 2025–Sep 2026National Drought Mitigation Center (University of Nebraska–Lincoln), USDA and NOAAWestmoreland County value
Home price to income ratio · low1.8×
95/100Pennsylvania 3.3×United States 4.1×2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25077
Reading scores · high3.39
94/100Pennsylvania 3.10United States 3.052019University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteWestmoreland County value
Math scores · high3.45
94/100Pennsylvania 3.12United States 3.032019University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteWestmoreland County value
Mental health care shortage · low0.0
91/100Pennsylvania 1.0United States 9.9Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationWestmoreland County value
Natural hazard risk · low6.6
89/100Pennsylvania 22.42025Federal Emergency Management AgencyWestmoreland County value

Weaknesses

Child poverty rate · high35.2%
7/100Pennsylvania 15.3%United States 15.5%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B17001
Adult smoking · high21.3%
8/100Pennsylvania 15.6%United States 16.1%2022University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate
New business applications · low8.7 /1k
12/100Pennsylvania 12.4 /1kUnited States 16.6 /1k2025U.S. Census BureauWestmoreland County value
Unemployment rate · high8.8%
13/100Pennsylvania 4.3%United States 4.3%2020-2024U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Census table B23025
New homes permitted · low0.0 /1k
13/100Pennsylvania 2.0 /1kUnited States 4.2 /1kSep 2025–Aug 2026U.S. Census BureauProvisional data
Bachelor's degree or higher · low14.0%
14/100Pennsylvania 35.2%United States 35.7%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B15003

Trends

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

Broadband subscriptionsImproving
71.0% (2015-2019) → 89.3% (2020-2024)
+18 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Rent-burdened householdsImproving
59.4% (2015-2019) → 44.4% (2020-2024)
−15 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Rent as share of incomeImproving
38.2% (2015-2019) → 25.4% (2020-2024)
−13 pts5 yearsCensus table B25071US 29.8% → 30.6%
Median household incomeImproving
$41,567 (2015-2019) → $50,901 (2020-2024)
+22%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Average commute timeImproving
32.1 min (2015-2019) → 25.1 min (2020-2024)
−22%5 yearsCensus table B08013US 26.9 min → 26.4 min
Uninsured residents (under 65)Improving
8.0% (2015-2019) → 3.8% (2020-2024)
−4.2 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, Vandergrift, Pennsylvania improved on 5 of 14 measures with a comparison and declined on 1. 8 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.

Improved5

Commute−7.1 min32.1 min → 25.1 min
Property tax−0.5 points1.83% → 1.31%
Broadband+18 points71.0% → 89.3%
Uninsured−4.2 points8.0% → 3.8%
Household income+22%$41,567 → $50,901

Declined1

Price / income+0.3×1.6× → 1.8×

All 14 measures

Change of every measure of Vandergrift, Pennsylvania between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	32.1 min2015-2019	25.1 min2020-2024	−7.1 min	Improved	95%
Bachelor's degree or higher	16.6%2015-2019	14.0%2020-2024	−2.6 points	Within the margin of error	14%
Broadband subscriptions	71.0%2015-2019	89.3%2020-2024	+18 points	Improved	87%
Child poverty rate	31.5%2015-2019	35.2%2020-2024	+3.6 points	Within the margin of error	24%
Effective property tax rate	1.83%2015-2019	1.31%2020-2024	−0.5 points	Improved	91%
High school diploma or higher	92.0%2015-2019	94.0%2020-2024	+2 points	Within the margin of error	59%
Home price to income ratio	1.6×2015-2019	1.8×2020-2024	+0.3×	Declined	63%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4112015-2019	0.3782020-2024	−0.033	Within the margin of error	76%
Median household income	$41,5672015-2019	$50,9012020-2024	+22%	Improved	38%
Poverty rate	22.4%2015-2019	21.5%2020-2024	−0.9 points	Within the margin of error	52%
Rent as share of income	38.2%2015-2019	25.4%2020-2024	−13 points	Within the margin of error	96%
Rent-burdened households	59.4%2015-2019	44.4%2020-2024	−15 points	Within the margin of error	89%
Unemployment rate	5.2%2015-2019	8.8%2020-2024	+3.6 points	Within the margin of error	7%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	8.0%2015-2019	3.8%2020-2024	−4.2 points	Improved	83%

“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 Vandergrift, Pennsylvania five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Vandergrift, 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, Vandergrift, Pennsylvania itself moved +18.2 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

5,011 residents (±29)

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

2,199 households (±147)

Vandergrift, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania share

Under $25k23%†504
$25k–50k24%527
$50k–75k28%†

Homes

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

Owners and renters

2,199 households (±147)

Vandergrift, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania share

Own54%1,198
Rent46%1,001

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

2,325 workers (±218)

Vandergrift, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania share

Drive alone58%1,350
Carpool13%†292
Public transit2.1%†

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 Pittsburgh, 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 Westmoreland County, the county holding most of Vandergrift's residents.

Westmoreland County has 8,428 employer establishments, 240 for every 10,000 residents (0.97× the US rate of 248; 1.02× Pennsylvania's), with 124,843 paid employees at an average annual pay of $51,303. The Census Bureau also counts 23,721 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 8,428; 23,721 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 240; US 248 · Pennsylvania 236
Paid employees: 124,843
Average annual pay: $51,303; US $68,342

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

Ambulatory health care services	740	21.1	1.01×About typical	7,557	$67,076	1,197
Restaurants and other eating places	586	16.7	0.91×About typical	10,982	$18,119	101
Specialty trade contractors	569	16.2	1.05×About typical	4,209	$68,715	1,973
Services to buildings and dwellings	285	8.1	1.20×About typical	1,686	$41,877	1,219
Construction of buildings	273	7.8	1.03×About typical	1,209	$56,596	701
Religious organizations	267	7.6	1.37×More than typical	1,376	$20,485	—
Offices of other health practitioners	263	7.5	1.23×About typical	1,286	$41,023	663
Full-service restaurants	261	7.4	0.97×About typical	6,035	$20,026	34
Limited-service restaurants	255	7.3	0.91×About typical	4,154	$15,382	46
Personal care services	231	6.6	1.38×More than typical	1,166	$23,936	751
Lessors of real estate	227	6.5	0.52×Fewer than typical	644	$39,742	2,372
Automotive repair and maintenance	220	6.3	1.24×About typical	1,085	$43,777	370

Rank places for an industry Open Westmoreland County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 351,233 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 Vandergrift, Pennsylvania: $0 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $0; −100% vs FY2025
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

28.1KFY2017
333KFY2020
383.1KFY2021
364.8KFY2022
350.5KFY2023
1.7MFY2024
404.6KFY2025

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

Vandergrift, Pennsylvania's figures are part of those of Westmoreland County, PA ($67.9M 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: Vandergrift is mostly in Westmoreland County.

See federal money in Westmoreland 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.

Vandergrift, 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.

Westmoreland County88100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Pittsburgh, PA84

Other cities and towns in Westmoreland 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/4279776

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends