West Chester, PA population, income and ZIP codes

West Chester borough is a mid-size town in Pennsylvania, with 19,235 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #34 of 2,002 ranked by population — larger than 98% of them. The median age here is 24.8 years against 39.1 nationally, a distinctly younger profile, typical of places with students, military posts or a fast-growing family population. Places under 65,000 residents only appear in the five-year release, never the one-year file, so these values pool sixty months of responses and lag the current year by design.

Households in West Chester borough earn a median of $81,492 a year, 3.8% above the national figure of $78,538 and 15% above the $71,118 median for the 982 Pennsylvania cities we cover. Household income here is measured before tax and pooled across everyone at the address, which is why it reads higher than typical individual earnings in the same area. Poverty reaches 18.3% of residents here, above the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in West Chester borough is valued at $481,300, 58.6% above the national figure and 149% above the $193,200 peer median, while median gross rent runs $1,661 a month, 18.1% above the national figure, or roughly $19,932 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 24.5% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is within the standard affordability guideline. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 5.9×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is harder here than in the average US market. 34.9% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, a renter-majority market, so rent figures matter more here than the home-value line. Rent is reported gross — contract rent plus tenant-paid utilities — which is why it runs above the advertised price on a listing for the same unit.

A median age of 24.8 means a large student or early-career population; income medians in places like this understate household resources, since many residents are supported from outside the address. Median income runs above the national figure while poverty also runs above it — a split distribution, not a uniformly comfortable place. Averages hide that; the two numbers together do not.

No figure on this page is estimated by us; each one comes straight from the published ACS tables for this area. Small-area estimates still carry wider margins of error than state or national figures, so check the linked ACS tables before relying on them for lending, appraisal or legal work.