Demographic indicators present information on key aspects of the people in a region: telling us what the population looks like and how is it evolving in terms of age, gender, race and ethnicity and immigrant and disability status. Overall, the population of Lancaster County is becoming older and more diverse in both racial/ethnic and immigrant terms, although the population remains overwhelmingly white and native-born.

Since 2010, the overall population in Lancaster County has grown approximately 7.5%, notably higher than the state increase of 2% and slightly below the national rate. The population of Lancaster County has been aging. While the percentage change in the number of men and women age 85 and older from 2009-13 to 2019-23 were similar, there are still many more women of that age range than men (10,250 and 5,400 respectively).

Between 2009-13 and 2019-23, the greatest increase was in those 60 to 84 (up 33%), followed by people 85 and older (up 17%), while the population under 20 remained the same.

Since 2009-13, people under age 20 have been the largest single age group in Lancaster County, with 143,500 people in 2019-23, followed by those between the ages of 20 and 39 and people between 40 and 59, with approximately 139,000 and 128,000 people in each group respectively.

From 2009-13 to 2019-23, Lancaster County’s Hispanic population grew the fastest at 33%. Its African American and Asian American population increased by 13% and 27%, respectively. The county’s white population declined by 2%. Despite these shifts, whites are still a majority with over 460,000 residents.

In 2019-23, Lancaster County’s population of people with disabilities was 12%. This was slightly lower than national, state, and neighboring counties, with the exception of Chester County which had a slightly smaller percentage of people with disabilities at 9%. The City of Lancaster had the highest percentage of people with disabilities at 17%.

In 2019-23, 6% of Lancaster County’s population was foreign-born, up 2 percentage points from 2009-13. This was slightly lower than Pennsylvania, at 7%, and 8 percentage points lower than the nation, at 14%. There was a larger foreign-born population in the City of Lancaster (14%).

In 2019-23, 16% of Lancaster County residents spoke a language other than English at home, the same as in 2009-13. This was higher than Pennsylvania, at 12%, but less than the U.S., at 22%. The City of Lancaster had the most language diversity--about a third of its population spoke a language other than English in their homes.