Labor day has come and gone, honoring the Pennsylvanians who keep setting those 6am alarms and have perfected their customer service voice. Here’s four numbers that give a snapshot of the workforce in the Commonwealth in 2026.
1. Roughly 6.7 million Pennsylvanians are in the labor force. That includes those who are working and those actively looking for a job. It accounts for just over half of the state’s 13 million population.
2. There’s roughly 6.2 million non farm jobs in the state, as of July. Pennsylvania’s Department of Labor and Industry divides those available jobs into 11 categories, pictured below. The industries with the most employment are education and health services.
By Kara Jeffers
3. The median annual wage in Pennsylvania is $49,690. That calculation includes the range for everyone from preschool teachers ($36,050 median annual wage) to CEOs ($232,560 median annual wage). This statistic is unique from the median household income, which the Census Bureau puts at $77,545 for the Commonwealth.
A WalletHub study published this summer says top 5% earners in Pennsylvania average $475,515 in annual income while the bottom 20% of earners in the state average $16,529.
4. How far will a paycheck carry a Pennsylvanian? The United Way, an organization that works to stabilize household finances, calculates how much people need in different regions to make ends meet.
A “survival budget” in Erie County is $29,916 for a single adult, and $79,464 for a family of four with a preschooler and toddler.
Comparatively, a “survival budget” in Tioga County is $27,204 for a single adult, and $73,800 for the same family of four.
Click this link to explore the cost of living budgets in your county, as well as suggestions for a “stability budget” and tools for managing finances.