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Home > Community Development > Community Profiles > Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) > Demographics and Economic Data

Community Profile: Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA)

Demographics and Economic Data

Included in this section is a brief summary of demographic and economic data. Detailed data can be accessed through the following websites:

• Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council : The website includes a geocoding/mapping system that allows users to obtain census data based on specific street addresses and a census report system that provides census information by census tract within a county or MSA.
• PolicyMap : This geographic information system, which includes an interactive mapping tool developed by The Reinvestment Fund, allows users to create custom maps, tables, and charts for over 10,000 indicators and provides the ability to plot external data.
• U.S. Census Bureau American FactFinder : Official source for population, housing, economic, and geographic data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Included below is a summary of the following data:

• Population
• Income
• Poverty Level
• Housing Units
• Housing Permits
• Local Industries
• Unemployment Rate
• Education

Unless otherwise noted, the data in this section, including data from the 2000 census, are based on the Pennsylvania portion of the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton MSA only and include the counties of Carbon, Lehigh, and Northampton.

Population1

The population of the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA MSA had a considerable increase in population from 595,081 residents in 1990 to 637,958 residents in 2000, representing a 7.2 percent increase, while the state experienced an increase in population of 3.4 percent for the same time period. The city of Allentown had a slight increase in population of 1.5 percent.

Table 1 shows the racial composition of the state of Pennsylvania, the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA MSA, and the city of Allentown based on the 2000 census. The last line of the table represents the percentage of the total population who stated they were Hispanic or Latino in origin. A larger portion of the population stated they were Hispanic or Latino in origin in the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA MSA (7.9 percent) than in the state of Pennsylvania (3.2 percent). For the city of Allentown, the portion was even higher. Approximately one out of every four residents in the city stated they were Hispanic or Latino (24.4 percent).

The racial composition of the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA MSA is illustrated in Figure 1.

The racial composition of those who reported they were Hispanic or Latino in origin within the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA MSA is illustrated in Figure 2.

Income

The 1999 median household income for the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA MSA was $43,383, and the median family income was $52,421. Statewide, the median household income was $40,106, and the median family income was $49,184. In the same year, the median household income was $32,016 for the city of Allentown, and the median family income was $37,356.²

The term low- and moderate-income persons (LMI) is used for CRA and community development purposes and includes people and communities whose income is less than 80 percent of the area median income. People and communities whose income is less than 50 percent of the area median income are considered low income and those whose income exceeds 50 percent, but does not exceed 80 percent, are considered moderate income.

In 2000, there were 247,307 households within the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA MSA. Of all households in all census tracts, 23.4 percent were low-income households, and 17.5 percent were moderate-income households. A household’s income does not always indicate the income of the census tract in which that household resides. As Table 2 indicates, 57.9 percent of the low-income households resided in middle- and upper- income census tracts, while 66.3 percent of all moderate-income households resided in middle- and upper-income census tracts.³

The Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA MSA had a total of 140 census tracts in 2008. Of all census tracts, nine were low-income tracts, and 34 were moderate-income tracts. In the city of Allentown, there were 27 census tracts, of which six were low-income and 15 were moderate-income census tracts.3

Poverty Level1

In 1999, the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA MSA had 54,008 residents living below the poverty line, representing 8.7 percent of the MSA population. Statewide, 11.0 percent of the population was living below the poverty line. The city of Allentown had 18,882 residents (18.5 percent of the total population) living below the poverty line.

Information about how the U.S. Census Bureau measures poverty is available through its website.

Housing Units1

The state of Pennsylvania had a total of 5,249,750 housing units in 2000, of which 91 percent were occupied, and 9 percent were vacant. Of the occupied housing units, 71.3 percent were owner-occupied and 28.7 percent were renter-occupied.

The Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA MSA had a total of 266,112 housing units, of which 92.9 percent were occupied, and 7.1 percent were vacant. The housing tenure for this MSA very closely resembled Pennsylvania as a whole: 71.6 percent of occupied units in this MSA were owner-occupied and 28.4 percent were renter-occupied.

The city of Allentown had a total of 45,960 housing units, of which 91.5 percent were occupied, and 8.5 percent were vacant. Likely reflecting the higher propensity to rent in urban cores, 47.0 percent of occupied units in the city of Allentown were renter-occupied.

The reasons for the vacancies are illustrated in Figure 3.

Housing Permits4

In January 2010, 129 housing permits for new, privately owned housing in the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ MSA were issued. Of this group, 133.1 housing permits were for 1- to 4-unit structures.

Note: The Research Department of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia seasonally adjusts the two series (total housing permits and housing permits for 1- to 4- unit structures) independently. When these two series are close in value and the seasonal adjustments are made, it is possible that the 1- to 4-unit structures will exceed the total housing permits, as is the case in this MSA. In addition, while this report focuses on the Pennsylvania portion of the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ MSA, the calculations for the values provided in this section include Warren County, NJ.

More current information regarding housing permits in the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ MSA and other areas within the Third Federal Reserve District is available through a database on the regional employment, unemployment, and housing page of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia's Research Department.

Local Industries

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s Research Department maintains a database of monthly employment data by industry for the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ MSA. Please note that all values for industry employment in this file are in thousands. (Also, the data in this spreadsheet include Warren County, NJ.)

Unemployment Rate5

In 2009, the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ MSA had an annual unemployment rate of 8.8 percent, which was higher than the state average of 8.1 percent. The employment rate for the city of Allentown was even higher, at of 12.0 percent, for the same year.

Note: While this report focuses on the Pennsylvania portion of the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ MSA, the data in this section include Warren County, NJ.

More recent unemployment data are available through the Bureau of Labor Statistics website .

Education1

In the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA MSA, 21.2 percent of the population 25 years of age or older had a bachelor’s degree or higher. For the state of Pennsylvania, this figure was 22.4 percent. In the city of Allentown, only 15.4 percent of the population 25 or older had received a bachelor’s degree or higher. See Figure 4 for more details.

• ¹ Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "2000 Census — Summary File 3," http://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html?_lang=en 
• ² Source: Estimates for median household income and median family income provided by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau, "2000 Census — Summary File 3."  Actual median household income falls within the range of $40,000 to $44,999. Actual median family income falls within the range of $50,000 to $59,999.
• ³ Source: Federal Reserve System calculations based on data from the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), http://www.ffiec.gov. 
• ⁴ Source: Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia Research Department, "Regional Employment: Unemployment and Selected Statistics," http://www.philadelphiafed.org/research-and-data/regional-economy/
• ⁵ Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Local Area Unemployment Statistics," 2009 annual data, http://data.bls.gov/PDQ/outside.jsp?survey=la 

• Last updated: August 26, 2010