Wilkes-Barre is a medium-sized city located in the state of Pennsylvania. With a population of 44,661 people and 24 associated neighborhoods, Wilkes-Barre is the 14th largest community in Pennsylvania. Much of the housing stock in Wilkes-Barre was built prior to World War II, making it one of the older and more historic cities in the country.Unlike some cities, Wilkes-Barre isn’t mainly white- or blue-collar. Instead, the most prevalent occupations for people in Wilkes-Barre are a mix 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 (12.26%), sales jobs (8.09%), and food service (7.80%). One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 8.17% of the workforce. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce this is high compared to the rest of the county. 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. In terms of college education, Wilkes-Barre is nearly on par with the US average for all cities of 21.84%: 20.46% of adults 25 and older in Wilkes-Barre have a bachelor's degree or advanced degree. The per capita income in Wilkes-Barre in 2022 was $25,979, which is low income relative to Pennsylvania and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $103,916 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 33.76% 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 16.87% of the city’s population. The most common language spoken in Wilkes-Barre is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and French.
