ZIP code 15853

ZIP 15853 is a mid-size town in Elk County, Pennsylvania, with 6,330 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #561 of 1,833 ranked by population — larger than 69% of them. The median age here is 45.5 years against 39.1 nationally, a markedly older profile that usually tracks retirees staying put and younger households leaving for work. 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 ZIP 15853 earn a median of $60,380 a year, 23.1% below the national figure of $78,538. Median household income counts every pre-tax dollar arriving at an address — wages, self-employment, Social Security, pensions, interest and public assistance — for everyone living there, so multi-earner households pull the figure up even where individual pay is modest. Poverty reaches 11.7% of residents here, below the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in ZIP 15853 is valued at $108,000, 64.4% below the national figure, while median gross rent runs $640 a month, 54.5% below the national figure, or roughly $7,680 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 12.7% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is cheap relative to what people here earn. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 1.8×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so purchase prices are unusually low against local pay, the pattern in places where supply is plentiful and wage growth has been flat. 76.7% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, so the market leans toward owners. 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.

All values below were released by the Census for this exact geography, with no gap-filling on our side. 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.

ZIP 15853 is tabulated inside Elk County, Pennsylvania, one of 12 ZIP areas the Census publishes for that county and 1,833 across Pennsylvania. Population sits in the small-town band, typically one main street plus the addresses that feed into it. County assignment on this page follows the largest share of the ZIP's land area, which matters where a delivery route crosses a county line: mail addressed to 15853 can be handled by a post office in a neighbouring county even though the tabulation area is filed here.

Against its own county, 15853 reports a median household income of $60,380, 4% below the $62,695 county median, and 14% below the $70,000 typical PA ZIP. Owner-occupied homes are valued at a median of $108,000, close to the county figure and 42% below the statewide ZIP median. Rent is reported gross — the contract amount plus tenant-paid utilities — at $640 a month, which is why it reads higher than the advertised rent on a listing for the same unit.

Pennsylvania charges 6% statewide, and local governments overlapping 15853 may add county, city or special-district levies on top. We publish the state floor for this ZIP rather than guessing a combined figure, because ZIP boundaries and taxing-district boundaries were drawn for different purposes and do not line up.

Everything above comes from the Census Bureau American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates for this ZIP Code Tabulation Area, with sales tax rates traced to the state revenue agency. Five-year estimates pool sixty months of responses, so they are stable enough to compare 15853 with its neighbours but always trail the current year, and any value the Census suppressed for sample size is shown as unpublished rather than filled in with a model.