A cityscape with snow-covered rooftops and various church steeples and buildings at sunset.

Is housing in Lancaster, PA still affordable?

We need your help to understand whether rent is affordable in Lancaster and to create a community-wide snapshot of housing costs. To build an accurate picture, we need as many community members as possible to participate. The survey is anonymous and designed to support informed conversations in our city.

Take Survey

Why we created this site

Affordable housing is often defined as housing costs that do not exceed 30% of a household’s income. While this standard is widely used, monthly rent alone doesn’t tell the whole story.

Two apartments can cost the same per month but offer very different amounts of living space. That’s why this tool looks beyond rent and also measures cost per square foot, helping show the true cost and value of housing in our community.

By gathering real information from residents, such as rent, apartment size, and income, this calculator creates a clearer picture of local housing conditions. The data helps build a blueprint for understanding affordability and supports better, more informed decision-making.

Your participation matters. Each entry helps turn individual housing experiences into a shared understanding of affordability, ensuring future policies reflect how people actually live in our community.

What this Survey will Show

Your submission becomes part of a larger, anonymous dataset that helps identify housing affordability trends in our community. This information supports community-level conversations, planning, and decision-making, grounded in real housing experiences rather than assumptions.

A parking lot surrounded by tall red brick apartment buildings with several parked cars, small trees, and a staircase leading to an upper level.

What the Numbers Can Help Tell Us

Housing affordability isn’t defined by a single number. Rent, unit size, and household income work together to tell a fuller, more accurate story.

Looking at these factors together helps reveal how affordability is experienced across different neighborhoods, housing size, and income levels, highlighting patterns that aren’t visible when rent is viewed alone.

A street lined with parked cars on both sides, with tall trees and utility poles with wires along the street. In the background, there is a large clock tower and a church with a steeple, under a clear blue sky.

Housing affordability looks different in every quadrant of the city. What may be affordable in the Northwest may not be realistic in another area, and those differences directly shape how affordability is experienced across the community.

Centers Local Incomes

A street with parked cars in front of colorful row houses with small porches and steep roofs under a clear blue sky, with utility poles and overhead wires.

Housing affects everyone, but it’s often discussed using incomplete or conflicting information. This tool focuses on clarity by collecting real, anonymous data and presenting it in a straightforward way.

Builds Shared Understanding

Rent Affordability Survey

Is this unit affordable for a local household at this size?

Your submissions help create a snapshot of rent trends in our community. The more people participate, the more accurate and useful the results become.

Color-coded map of a city divided into districts with labels such as CP, SD, Ro, ES, MP, CBD, Mt, SS, CA, PH, Co, and WE, showing streets, parks, and landmarks.