Data / Rankings / Employed residents / Cities in Pennsylvania

Cities in Pennsylvania by employed residents

Philadelphia, PA had the highest employed residents of 25 cities in 2017, at 717,191. Johnstown, PA had the lowest, at 7,452. The median was 18,002. Source: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Highest717,191Philadelphia, PA
Lowest7,452Johnstown, PA
Median18,00225 cities

All cities, 2017

Philadelphia, PA: 717,191 personsPhiladelphia, PA717,191Pittsburgh, PA: 157,222 personsPittsburgh, PA157,222Allentown, PA: 54,344 personsAllentown, PA54,344Erie, PA: 41,982 personsErie, PA41,982Reading, PA: 37,990 personsReading, PA37,990Bethlehem, PA: 35,578 personsBethlehem, PA35,578Scranton, PA: 33,685 personsScranton, PA33,685Lancaster, PA: 28,675 personsLancaster, PA28,675Harrisburg, PA: 22,208 personsHarrisburg, PA22,208York, PA: 20,419 personsYork, PA20,419Wilkes-Barre, PA: 19,363 personsWilkes-Barre, PA19,363Altoona, PA: 19,347 personsAltoona, PA19,347Norristown, PA: 18,002 personsNorristown, PA18,002Bethel Park, PA: 17,467 personsBethel Park, PA17,467State College, PA: 17,092 personsState College, PA17,092Plum, PA: 14,282 personsPlum, PA14,282Monroeville, PA: 13,941 personsMonroeville, PA13,941Easton, PA: 13,416 personsEaston, PA13,416Hazleton, PA: 13,328 personsHazleton, PA13,328Williamsport, PA: 12,616 personsWilliamsport, PA12,616Chester, PA: 12,092 personsChester, PA12,092Lebanon, PA: 11,105 personsLebanon, PA11,105West Mifflin, PA: 9,261 personsWest Mifflin, PA9,261New Castle, PA: 7,890 personsNew Castle, PA7,890Johnstown, PA: 7,452 personsJohnstown, PA7,452Philadelphia, PA: 717,191 personsPhiladelphia, PA717,191Pittsburgh, PA: 157,222 personsPittsburgh, PA157,222Allentown, PA: 54,344 personsAllentown, PA54,344Erie, PA: 41,982 personsErie, PA41,982Reading, PA: 37,990 personsReading, PA37,990Bethlehem, PA: 35,578 personsBethlehem, PA35,578Scranton, PA: 33,685 personsScranton, PA33,685Lancaster, PA: 28,675 personsLancaster, PA28,675Harrisburg, PA: 22,208 personsHarrisburg, PA22,208York, PA: 20,419 personsYork, PA20,419Wilkes-Barre, PA: 19,363 personsWilkes-Barre, PA19,363Altoona, PA: 19,347 personsAltoona, PA19,347Norristown, PA: 18,002 personsNorristown, PA18,002Bethel Park, PA: 17,467 personsBethel Park, PA17,467State College, PA: 17,092 personsState College, PA17,092Plum, PA: 14,282 personsPlum, PA14,282Monroeville, PA: 13,941 personsMonroeville, PA13,941Easton, PA: 13,416 personsEaston, PA13,416Hazleton, PA: 13,328 personsHazleton, PA13,328Williamsport, PA: 12,616 personsWilliamsport, PA12,616Chester, PA: 12,092 personsChester, PA12,092Lebanon, PA: 11,105 personsLebanon, PA11,105West Mifflin, PA: 9,261 personsWest Mifflin, PA9,261New Castle, PA: 7,890 personsNew Castle, PA7,890Johnstown, PA: 7,452 personsJohnstown, PA7,452
persons. Source: BLS, Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: employment (measure 05), annual average. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

RankCities2017
persons		Change on 2016
1Philadelphia, PA717,191+0.5%
2Pittsburgh, PA157,222-0.6%
3Allentown, PA54,344+0.1%
4Erie, PA41,982-1.7%
5Reading, PA37,990-0.6%
6Bethlehem, PA35,5780%
7Scranton, PA33,685-0.2%
8Lancaster, PA28,675-0.1%
9Harrisburg, PA22,208-0.3%
10York, PA20,419-0.4%
11Wilkes-Barre, PA19,363-0%
12Altoona, PA19,347-1%
13Norristown, PA18,002-0.2%
14Bethel Park, PA17,467+1.9%
15State College, PA17,092+0.1%
16Plum, PA14,2820%
17Monroeville, PA13,941-0.4%
18Easton, PA13,416-0%
19Hazleton, PA13,328-0.4%
20Williamsport, PA12,616-0.7%
21Chester, PA12,0920%
22Lebanon, PA11,105-0.5%
23West Mifflin, PA9,261-0.4%
24New Castle, PA7,890-1%
25Johnstown, PA7,452-1.8%

Other periods

About this ranking

Residents who did any work for pay or profit in the reference week, or were temporarily absent from a job, annual average.

More on how it is measured
  • People aged 16 and over by place of residence, from the Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
  • Active-duty military personnel and people living in institutions are excluded.

United States cities only for now. Counts people where they live, whatever the place of work, and someone with two jobs counts once. BLS estimates cities by splitting county estimates with Census Bureau employment and population data and unemployment insurance claims, so city figures are less precise than state ones. BLS publishes cities of 25,000 or more, and smaller cities in New England.

Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the cities are compared on one definition. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: employment (measure 05), annual average. https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Citation styles

The publisher is the author. Invokely is named only as the place the figures were read, where a style asks for it.

APA 7

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2026). Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: employment (measure 05), annual average (Cities in Pennsylvania by employed residents, 2017) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19

MLA 9

Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: employment (measure 05), annual average, Cities in Pennsylvania by employed residents, 2017. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 30 Sept. 2026, https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/employed-residents/pennsylvania-cities?period=2017. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2026. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: employment (measure 05), annual average. Cities in Pennsylvania by employed residents, 2017. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/employed-residents/pennsylvania-cities?period=2017.

Harvard

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2026) Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: employment (measure 05), annual average, Cities in Pennsylvania by employed residents, 2017 [Dataset]. Available at: https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/employed-residents/pennsylvania-cities?period=2017 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{bureau_cities_in_pennsylvania_by_2017,
  author = {{U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics}},
  title = {{Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: employment (measure 05), annual average: Cities in Pennsylvania by employed residents, 2017}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/employed-residents/pennsylvania-cities?period=2017. Publisher attribution: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: employment (measure 05), annual average. https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19. Retrieved 2026-10-12.},
}
RIS
TY  - DATA
AU  - U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
TI  - Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: employment (measure 05), annual average: Cities in Pennsylvania by employed residents, 2017
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/30
PB  - U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/employed-residents/pennsylvania-cities?period=2017
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/employed-residents/pennsylvania-cities?period=2017.
N1  - Publisher attribution: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: employment (measure 05), annual average. https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/la/la.data.0.CurrentU15-19. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -
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Questions

Which city has the highest employed residents?

Philadelphia, PA, with 717,191 in 2017, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Which city has the lowest employed residents?

Johnstown, PA, with 7,452 in 2017.

Where does this ranking come from?

Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Local Area Unemployment Statistics, cities and towns, not seasonally adjusted: employment (measure 05), annual average. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Employed residents: other rankings

Cities in Pennsylvania: more rankings