Wilkes-Barre is a medium-sized city located in the state of Pennsylvania. With a population of 44,254 people and 24 associated neighborhoods, Wilkes-Barre is the 14th largest community in Pennsylvania. Wilkes-Barre has a large stock of pre-World War II architecture, 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, Wilkes-Barre is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Wilkes-Barre is a city of service providers, sales and office workers, and professionals. There are especially a lot of people living in Wilkes-Barre who work in office and administrative support (13.14%), sales jobs (8.35%), and food service (8.19%). A relatively large number of people in Wilkes-Barre telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 7.41% of the workforce works from home. While this may seem like a small number, as a fraction of the total workforce it ranks among the highest in the country. 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. The education level of Wilkes-Barre citizens, measured as those with bachelor's degrees or advanced degrees, is similar to the national average for all American cities and towns. 19.40% of adults 25 and older in Wilkes-Barre have a college degree. The per capita income in Wilkes-Barre in 2022 was $25,581, which is low income relative to Pennsylvania and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $102,324 for a family of four. However, Wilkes-Barre contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Wilkes-Barre is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Wilkes-Barre home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Wilkes-Barre residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Wilkes-Barre also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 30.61% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Wilkes-Barre include Irish, Polish, German, Italian, and English. Foreign born people are also an important part of Wilkes-Barre's cultural character, accounting for 15.09% of the city’s population. The most common language spoken in Wilkes-Barre is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and French.
