Living in Northeastern Pennsylvania & the Poconos

This region splits cleanly between the historic Anthracite Coal Region (Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Hazleton, Pottsville) and the Pocono Mountains tourism region (Stroudsburg, Jim Thorpe, Milford), with college-town Bloomsburg sitting apart from both. The coal region cities run genuinely affordable housing well below the Pennsylvania statewide average, reflecting a real, still-evolving transition away from their original anthracite-mining economic base -- Scranton, the region's largest city and famously the setting of the U.S. version of 'The Office,' anchors this cluster alongside Pottsville, home to Yuengling, America's oldest continuously operating brewery (founded 1829). The Poconos towns run meaningfully higher, driven by a real, substantial four-county tourism economy that generated a record $7.2 billion in visitor spending and supports more than 38,000 jobs -- Jim Thorpe carries a genuinely unusual history, having renamed itself in 1954 after the Olympic athlete as a deliberate tourism strategy. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport (AVP) serves the region with a small but real route network.

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Last reviewed: 2026-09-05. Independent research; see individual place pages for metric-level source attribution. This is not financial, tax, or legal advice -- confirm current figures with a local professional before making a decision.