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ZIP Code17857

Northumberland, PA

Northumberland County · Pennsylvania · United States
Home to 7,682 people across 26.663 square miles.

Eastern25 ZIPs in county

At a glance

17857 by the numbers

Every figure below comes from the 2019–2023 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, the Census Gazetteer, or is computed from those. Margins of error are shown where they matter.

Population
7,682
±34 · 67th pctile nationally
Median household income
$64,306
US median $70,109 · 40th pctile
Median home value
$191,800
US median $207,500 · 45th pctile
Median age
48.7
US median 42 years
Population density
288/mi²
67th pctile most dense
Land area
26.663 mi²
plus 2.347 mi² water

Location

Where 17857 is

40.932136, -76.772972 · Census ZCTA internal pointOpen larger map →
Coordinates40.932136, -76.772972
Time zoneAmerica/New_York
CountyNorthumberland County
StatePennsylvania (PA)
Land area26.663 mi²
Coordinate sourceCensus ZCTA internal point

Local time

America/New_York

—:—:—

Current weather

Live from the National Weather Service

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Distance to major cities

Straight-line, computed from coordinates

Philadelphia, PA108.3 mi
New York, NY145.5 mi
Boston, MA311.0 mi
Chicago, IL566.0 mi

People

Who lives in 17857

7,682 residents in 3,481 households, averaging 2.21 people per household. The largest age group is 65+ at 27.5% of residents.

Age distribution

Share of residents by age band

Under 1819.5%
18-242.9%
25-3410.3%
35-4411.6%
45-5413.4%
55-6414.8%
65+27.5%

Households

Composition and size

Total households3,481
Average household size2.21
Family households63.1%
Living alone30.0%
Median age48.7 years
Households with internet83.0%

Race & ethnicity

Census race categories. Hispanic or Latino origin is asked separately and overlaps these groups.

White92.1%
Black3.6%
Other1.6%
Two or more2.7%
Hispanic / Latino6.1%

Income & work

What people earn in 17857

The median household here earns $64,306 a year, below the US median of $70,109, which puts 17857 ahead of 40% of American ZIP codes. 12.9% of residents live below the poverty line.

Compared to the US

This ZIP against the national median

Median household income$64,306
LowestHighest
Higher than 40% of all US ZIP codes.
Median household income$64,306 ±$7,098
Per capita income$34,952
Poverty rate12.9%
Unemployment rate2.4%
Labor force participation60.2%

Household income distribution

Share of households in each bracket

<$25k17.5%
$25-50k21.6%
$50-75k16.9%
$75-100k18.0%
$100-150k16.1%
$150-200k4.3%
$200k+5.6%

Educational attainment among residents 25 and older: 23.6% hold a bachelor's degree or higher, 92.4% finished high school.

Housing

Homes and rent in 17857

A typical home is valued at $191,800, and median rent runs $948 a month. This is an owner-majority area — 74.8% of occupied homes are owned, and the typical building went up in 1967.

Costs

Typical values

Median home value$191,800
Median gross rent$948/mo
Median year built1967
Housing units3,721
Vacancy rate6.4%

Own vs. rent

Of 3,481 occupied units

Owner-occupied74.8%
Renter-occupied25.2%
Owner households2,605
Renter households876

Building types

Units by structure size

Single family82.3%
2-4 units9.1%
5-19 units3.8%
20+ units4.8%

Getting to work

How 17857 commutes

79.3% of workers drove alone, and the average one-way trip takes 24.1 minutes.

Mode of transport

Workers 16 and older

Drove alone79.3%
Carpooled5.8%
Public transit1.1%
Walked4.6%
Worked from home6.9%

Travel time

Mean commute 24.1 minutes

<10 min21.1%
10-1931.9%
20-2921.1%
30-4413.7%
45-593.6%
60+8.6%

Overview

Understanding ZIP code 17857

ZIP code 17857 is assigned to Northumberland, PA, and falls within Northumberland County. Like every US postal code, it began as a mail-routing device rather than a geographic boundary — the US Postal Service groups delivery routes under a single code so carriers and sorting equipment can process mail efficiently. Today it also serves as a practical shorthand for the area itself: roughly 7,682 people live inside it.

At 288 residents per square mile spread over 26.663 square miles, 17857 reads as a small-town area. It is a smaller postal code by population, and density shapes almost everything else on this page — how people get to work, whether they own or rent, and what housing costs.

Household earnings track close to the national picture. The median of $64,306 puts 17857 near the middle of the pack, ahead of 40% of them. The US median for comparison is $70,109. Bear in mind that median income describes the midpoint household, not the average — it is not pulled upward by a handful of very high earners the way a mean would be.

Living here

What life in Northumberland looks like

Housing in 17857 costs close to the national median. A typical home is valued at $191,800 against a US median of $207,500, and median gross rent runs $948 a month. Ownership dominates: 74.8% of occupied homes are owner-occupied, which usually signals an established residential area with relatively low turnover.

The building stock is dominated by detached single-family houses, which account for 82.3% of housing units here. The median construction year is 1967, making the housing here mid-century.

The population skews older than the national median, with a median age of 48.7 against 42 nationally. The average household holds 2.21 people, and 63.1% are family households.

Getting to work takes 24.1 minutes on average one way. The dominant mode is drove alone at 79.3% of workers.

Where to stay

Where to stay in Northumberland, PA

Northumberland is a smaller community, so options inside 17857 may be limited to a handful of independent inns, motels or bed-and-breakfast properties. Travellers often widen the search to the surrounding area, where the choice is greater and prices are usually competitive.

Median rent in 17857 is $948 a month, which sits in the middle of the national range; accommodation pricing locally tends to be similarly mid-market. For reference, Philadelphia, PA is about 108.3 miles away in a straight line, which is worth factoring in if you are comparing a stay here against one closer to the city centre.

Availability and pricing change constantly, so the live search below will give you a more accurate picture than any figure we could publish here. It opens results for this area on Booking.com.

Book a Hotel →

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Practical uses

What ZIP code 17857 is used for

Beyond addressing mail, 17857 does a lot of quiet administrative work. Retailers use it to calculate shipping and sales tax at checkout. Insurers use it to set premiums, since risk profiles vary geographically. Employers and marketers use it to define service areas. Government agencies use it to route benefits and organise reporting. If you have ever been asked for a postal code by a form that clearly does not intend to send you anything, this is why.

For anyone weighing a move, 17857 offers a compact profile of Northumberland: 7,682 residents, a median household income of $64,306, 23.6% of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher, and an unemployment rate of 2.4%. A handful of figures like these answer more relocation questions than most neighbourhood guides do.

One caution worth repeating: a postal code is not a neighbourhood. 17857 may cover parts of several distinct areas, and a single neighbourhood in Northumberland may be split across more than one code. Boundaries also shift as USPS adjusts delivery routes. Treat the figures here as describing a delivery area, which is what they actually measure.

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Questions

Common questions about 17857

What city is ZIP code 17857 in?
17857 serves Northumberland, Pennsylvania, in Northumberland County, United States.
What is the population of 17857?
About 7,682 people live in ZIP code 17857, according to the US Census Bureau's 2019–2023 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. The margin of error on that figure is ±34. That works out to roughly 288 people per square mile.
What is the average income in 17857?
The median household income in 17857 is $64,306 per year, compared with a US median of $70,109. Per capita income is $34,952. Median income is more representative than an average because it isn't skewed by a small number of very high earners.
How expensive is housing in 17857?
The median home value is $191,800 and median gross rent is $948 a month. 74.8% of occupied homes are owner-occupied.
Is 17857 a good place to live?
That depends on what you're looking for, but here are the facts: 23.6% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, the unemployment rate is 2.4%, and the median age is 48.7. The average commute is 24.1 minutes. We publish the numbers and let you weigh them.
What time zone is 17857 in?
17857 observes Eastern Time (America/New_York). This zone observes daylight saving time.
How big is ZIP code 17857?
ZIP code 17857 covers 26.663 square miles of land plus 2.347 square miles of water, per the US Census Bureau's 2023 Gazetteer files.
Is 17857 urban, suburban or rural?
By population density, 17857 reads as a small-town area. It holds 288 people per square mile across 26.663 square miles of land. For reference, densities above 10,000 per square mile generally indicate an urban core, 1,000–3,000 is typically suburban, and under 200 is rural. These are rules of thumb rather than official designations — the Census Bureau classifies urban and rural areas by census block, not by ZIP code.
How much is rent in 17857?
Median gross rent in 17857 is $948 a month, according to the American Community Survey. Gross rent includes contract rent plus the estimated cost of utilities and fuels, so it is closer to what a tenant actually pays than a headline rent figure. Of 3,481 occupied homes here, 876 are rented.
What is the commute like from 17857?
The average one-way commute from 17857 takes about 24.1 minutes. The most common way to travel is drove alone, used by 79.3% of workers aged 16 and over. Commute figures cover people who were employed and working outside the home during the survey period.
How many people work in 17857?
About 3,694 residents of 17857 are employed. Labor force participation stands at 60.2% and the unemployment rate is 2.4%. Note this counts residents by where they live, not by where they work — a ZIP with many offices can have far more jobs than employed residents.
Where should I stay when visiting 17857?
Accommodation in and around Northumberland, PA ranges with the character of the area. See the 'Where to stay' section on this page for local context, and use the live search there for current availability and pricing.
Does 17857 cover more than one city or county?
This page lists Northumberland as the primary place and Northumberland County as the county. ZIP codes follow mail delivery routes rather than municipal or county lines, so a single code can straddle boundaries, and USPS also recognises alternate acceptable city names for many codes. If you need the definitive answer for a specific street address, the USPS ZIP Code Lookup is the authority.
Can ZIP code 17857 change?
Yes. USPS adjusts ZIP codes as delivery volumes shift — codes are occasionally split, merged, retired or newly created, and boundaries move more often than most people assume. The Census Bureau's ZCTA definitions, which underpin the demographic figures on this page, are redrawn only once a decade, so the two can drift apart between censuses.

Methodology

Where this data comes from

  • Postal geography — GeoNames open postal code database (CC BY 4.0), cross-checked against the US Census Gazetteer.
  • Demographics, income, housing, commute — US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2019–2023 5-Year Estimates, ZIP Code Tabulation Area 17857. Tables B01001, B01002, B01003, B02001, B03003, B08301, B08303, B11001, B15003, B17001, B19001, B19013, B19301, B23025, B25002, B25003, B25024, B25035, B25064, B25077, B28002.
  • Land and water area — US Census Bureau 2023 Gazetteer Files.
  • Weather — NOAA National Weather Service, fetched live in your browser.
  • Map — OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
On accuracy. ACS figures are survey estimates, not counts. The margin of error shown alongside the population figure means the true value has a 90% chance of falling in that range. For small ZIP codes the error can be large relative to the estimate — treat the direction as more reliable than the exact number. This page reports data for ZCTA 17857, the Census approximation of the USPS delivery area.