The percentage of people living in or near poverty is a measure of the overall economic health of a region. It also indicates the level of need for social and government supports.

In 2020-24, Lancaster County's poverty rate was 8%, below the state and nation, both at 12%. This has decreased 3 percentage points since 2010-14, similar to the state decrease of 2 points and slightly lower than the national decrease of 4 points during the same period.

In the City of Lancaster, 20% of residents lived below the poverty line, lower than the rate in 2010-14 by 9 percentage points.

Among surrounding counties, York (8%), Cumberland (7%) and Chester (6%) had poverty rates similar to Lancaster in 2020-24. Rates were higher in Dauphin (13%), Berks (12%) and Lebanon (10%). All comparison counties decreased by 1 or 2 percentage points since 2010-2014.

The multiyear figures are from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey. The bureau combined 5 years of responses to the survey to provide estimates for smaller geographic areas and increase the precision of its estimates. However, because the information came from a survey, the samples responding to the survey were not always large enough to produce reliable results, especially in small geographic areas. CGR has noted on data tables the estimates with relatively large margins of error. Estimates with 3 asterisks have the largest margins, plus or minus 50% or more of the estimate. Two asterisks mean plus or minus 35%-50%, and one asterisk means plus or minus 20%-35%. For all estimates, the confidence level is 90%, meaning there is 90% probability the true value (if the whole population were surveyed) would be within the margin of error (or confidence interval). The survey provides data on characteristics of the population that used to be collected only during the decennial census.