Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Lancaster population, 2020 to 2024

Lancaster added 498 residents from July 2020 to July 2024, a change of +0.9%. In the latest year it moved by +1,137. Among 193 Pennsylvania places of 5,000 or more, that growth ranks 72nd; the median place changed by +0.2%. The median place of 5,000+ in Pennsylvania has 8,364 people, so Lancaster is 7.0 times that size.

Lancaster covers 7.23 square miles of land and 0.12 of water, for 8,083 people per square mile of land. The median Pennsylvania place of 5,000+ has 3,911, so Lancaster is denser than the typical town.

What county Lancaster is in

All of Lancaster's residents live in Lancaster County, which had 563,293 residents in 2024. Lancaster holds 10.4% of the county's population. The shaded shape is on the map above; dots mark the eight nearest places.

ZIP codes in Lancaster

3 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs) overlap Lancaster by at least 10% of the ZCTA's or the city's land: 17601, 17602, 17603. ZCTAs are Census approximations of USPS ZIP code delivery areas. The list comes from the 2020 ZCTA to place relationship file, so a city that annexed land after 2020 may reach into ZIP codes not listed here.

Where Lancaster is

The Census internal point of Lancaster is at 40.042100, -76.301000. Harrisburg, the capital, is 34.4 miles WNW in a straight line. The nearest larger place is Reading, PA (96,000 people), 28.5 miles away. The nearest city of 100,000 or more is Baltimore, MD, 53.9 miles away.

Daylight in Lancaster

At 40.04° N, Lancaster gets about 15 h 01 min of daylight around the June solstice and 9 h 19 min around the December solstice, a swing of 5 h 42 min. Figures are sunrise to sunset from the SunCalc model for June 21 and December 21, 2026.

Places near Lancaster

The eight nearest incorporated places of 1,000+ in Pennsylvania, measured between internal points. The closest is Millersville, 3.7 miles away, with 9,290 people.