Mount Gretna is a tiny borough located in the state of Pennsylvania. With a population of 190 people and just one neighborhood, Mount Gretna is the 1096th largest community in Pennsylvania. Much of the housing stock in Mount Gretna was built prior to World War II, making it one of the older and more historic boroughs in the country.
Mount Gretna is a decidedly white-collar borough, with fully 94.37% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Mount Gretna is a borough of managers, professionals, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Mount Gretna who work in business and financial occupations (23.94%), management occupations (19.72%), and sales jobs (12.68%).
Also of interest is that Mount Gretna has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.
One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 9.86% of the workforce. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce this is high compared to the rest of the county. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes.
Another notable thing is that Mount Gretna is an extremely popular vacation destination. A significant portion of the population is seasonal. During the vacation season, the borough experiences a large influx of people who take up residence in second homes they own in the area. As the vacation season ends, the population drops again, leaving behind a substantially quieter and smaller borough.
In addition, Mount Gretna is home to many people who could be described as "urban sophisticates". Urban sophisticates are people who are both educated and wealthy, and thus tend to be older, richer, and more established than young professionals. "Urban sophisticates" is not just about being educated and well-off financially: it is a point of view and state of mind, one that you might call 'urbaneness'. But such people can and do regularly live in small towns, suburbs and rural areas, as well as in big cities. They read, support the arts and high-end shops, and love travel.
Because of many things, Mount Gretna is a very good place for families to consider. With an enviable combination of good schools, low crime, college-educated neighbors who tend to support education because of their own experiences, and a high rate of home ownership in predominantly single-family properties, Mount Gretna really has some of the features that families look for when choosing a good community to raise children. Is Mount Gretna perfect? Of course not, and if you like frenetic nightlife, it will be far from your cup of tea. But overall this is a solid community, with many things to recommend it as a family-friendly place to live.
Being a small borough, Mount Gretna does not have a public transit system used by locals to get to and from work.
The citizens of Mount Gretna are among the most well-educated in the nation: 49.15% of adults in Mount Gretna have a bachelor's degree or even advanced degree, whereas the average US city has 21.84% holding at least a bachelor's degree.
The per capita income in Mount Gretna in 2022 was $72,213, which is wealthy relative to Pennsylvania and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $288,852 for a family of four.
The people who call Mount Gretna home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Mount Gretna residents report their race to be White. Important ancestries of people in Mount Gretna include German, Irish, English, French, and Swiss.
The most common language spoken in Mount Gretna is English. Other important languages spoken here include Italian and French.
When you see a neighborhood for the first time, the most important thing is often the way it looks, like its homes and its setting. Some places look the same, but they only reveal their true character after living in them for a while because they contain a unique mix of occupational or cultural groups. This neighborhood is very unique in some important ways, according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive exploration and analysis.
If you're nearing retirement age, or in retirement, the is an excellent choice for you to consider for top-quality retirement living. This neighborhood is rated by NeighborhoodScout as among the top 8.7% of retiree-friendly neighborhoods in Pennsylvania, combining peace and quiet, safety from crime, and offering diverse housing options from which retirees can choose. Maybe it's because of these amenities that a large proportion of the residents here are college educated seniors, mixed with other age groups. For these and other reasons, NeighborhoodScout identifies this neighborhood as a top-notch place to consider if you are thinking of or planning to retire in Pennsylvania.
Did you know that the neighborhood has more Swiss and German ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 5.9% of this neighborhood's residents have Swiss ancestry and 40.3% have German ancestry.
is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 1.1% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak Mon-Khmer, which is the dominant language of Cambodia, at home. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is higher than 99.0% of the neighborhoods in America.
How wealthy a neighborhood is, from very wealthy, to middle income, to low income is very formative with regard to the personality and character of a neighborhood. Equally important is the rate of people, particularly children, who live below the federal poverty line. In some wealthy gated communities, the areas immediately surrounding can have high rates of childhood poverty, which indicates other social issues. NeighborhoodScout's analysis reveals both aspects of income and poverty for this neighborhood.
The neighbors in the neighborhood in Mount Gretna are middle-income, making it a moderate income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 55.6% of the neighborhoods in America. With 13.0% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 56.0% of U.S. neighborhoods.
What we choose to do for a living reflects who we are. Each neighborhood has a different mix of occupations represented, and together these tell you about the neighborhood and help you understand if this neighborhood may fit your lifestyle.
In the neighborhood, 40.5% of the working population is employed in executive, management, and professional occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is manufacturing and laborer occupations, with 24.6% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants (20.4%), and 12.8% in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations.
The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 94.8% of households. Some people also speak Polish (2.6%).
Boston's Beacon Hill blue-blood streets, Brooklyn's Orthodox Jewish enclaves, Los Angeles' Persian neighborhoods. Each has its own culture derived primarily from the ancestries and culture of the residents who call these neighborhoods home. Likewise, each neighborhood in America has its own culture – some more unique than others – based on lifestyle, occupations, the types of households – and importantly – on the ethnicities and ancestries of the people who live in the neighborhood. Understanding where people came from, who their grandparents or great-grandparents were, can help you understand how a neighborhood is today.
In the neighborhood in Mount Gretna, PA, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as German (40.3%). There are also a number of people of English ancestry (7.9%), and residents who report Polish roots (6.1%), and some of the residents are also of Swiss ancestry (5.9%), along with some Irish ancestry residents (5.2%), among others.
How you get to work – car, bus, train or other means – and how much of your day it takes to do so is a large quality of life and financial issue. Especially with gasoline prices rising and expected to continue doing so, the length and means of one's commute can be a financial burden. Some neighborhoods are physically located so that many residents have to drive in their own car, others are set up so many walk to work, or can take a train, bus, or bike. The greatest number of commuters in neighborhood spend under 15 minutes commuting one-way to work (30.5% of working residents), one of the shortest commutes across America.
Here most residents (80.3%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also carpool with coworkers, friends, or neighbors to get to work (7.6%) . In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.