Lancaster is a larger medium-sized city located in the state of Pennsylvania. With a population of 57,453 people and 36 associated neighborhoods, Lancaster is the ninth largest community in Pennsylvania. Much of the housing stock in Lancaster was built prior to World War II, making it one of the older and more historic cities in the country.Unlike some cities where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Lancaster is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Lancaster is a city of professionals, service providers, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Lancaster who work in office and administrative support (9.72%), management occupations (9.15%), and sales jobs (8.78%). Also of interest is that Lancaster has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US. Telecommuters are a relatively large percentage of the workforce: 7.81% of people work from home. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce it is high relative to the nation. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes. Although the majority of commuting trips in the city are by private automobile, Lancaster is somewhat unusual for a city of its size for having a substantial number of people who use public transportation. For a lot of people, the bus helps to get to and from their jobs every morning, which benefits everyone in the Lancaster area by reducing both traffic and air pollution.In terms of college education, Lancaster is somewhat better educated than the 21.84% who have a 4-year degree or higher in the typical US community: 27.41% of adults 25 and older in the city have at least a bachelor's degree. The per capita income in Lancaster in 2022 was $28,653, which is lower middle income relative to Pennsylvania and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $114,612 for a family of four. However, Lancaster contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Lancaster is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Lancaster home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. People of Hispanic or Latino origin are the most prevalent group in Lancaster, accounting for 39.37% of the city’s residents (people of Hispanic or Latino origin can be of any race). The greatest number of Lancaster residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Lancaster include German, Irish, English, Italian, and Swiss. The most common language spoken in Lancaster is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and African languages.
