Median Income by type of worker, educational attainment, by ZIP code. Total Workers and Income Ranges by ZIP code.

Median household income is a gauge of the overall economic health of the region and the financial resources of households.

Family Types

Median household incomes are highest in married-couple families ($58,434) as compared to single male and single female householders. A large median household income gap exists between single male ($38,308) and single female ($28,166) householders, with a difference of $10,142 or 26.5%. 

Income Ranges Householder Race

Black/African American ($25,302) and Some Other Race ($29,062) populations suffer the lowest median household incomes in Erie County. Asian householders experience higher on median household incomes with $63.321 countywide.

Family Size

While 2-person families comprise the largest segment of Erie county's family size breakdown, their median household income of $54,090 is the lowest among the 6 categories. The highest median household income occurs in the 4-person family segment at $80,787.

Over Time

Median household income overall has increased over the analysis time period. Since 2010, median income increased by +$8,073 to a total of $51,529, a +18.6% rise. 

By Area

Median household incomes skew lower the closer to Erie City center, particularly in ZIP code 16501 ($10,874). This can partially be attributed to the density of university housing and low-income housing designated in these areas. The highest median household incomes occur farther West and East of the city limits, particularly in the 16415 ($96,556) and 16421 ($75,063) ZIP codes.

EVS analyzes the data in each topic category using indicators, which report a targeted and digestible number, rate, or amount to represent Erie County as a whole. While this does not cover every aspect of the topic, it assists in establishing Erie's performance relative to the prior year(s). The indicators for the Demographics: Income topic are:

This indicator measures the median household income in dollars for all of Erie County in latest data year. The trend for Median Household Income was up and better in 2019, with a reported increase of +$1,813 within the County, representing +3.6%. 

This indicator measures the wage and salary income of adults of color (aged 16-64) as a percent of wages and salary income of white adult (color includes all persons who are American Indian, Asian, black, or two or more races, or those who identify themselves as belonging to another race, as well as those who are Hispanic of any race). The trend for Wage Gap: White - Persons of  Color was up and better in 2019 with a reported increase of +0.39% within the County. This indicates that on average for the total population, a person of color makes 92.9 cents on the dollar compared to their White peers.

The Gini Index is a summary measure of income inequality. The Gini coefficient incorporates the detailed shares data into a single statistic, which summarizes the dispersion of income across the entire income distribution. The Gini coefficient ranges from 0, indicating perfect equality (where everyone receives an equal share), to 1, perfect inequality (where only one recipient or group of recipients receives all the income). More information can be found here.

Data from the U.S. Census ACS as of 12/2020.