Ephrata, Pennsylvania.
, asking rent $1,401 (+5.3%). Lancaster, PA metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$793 (+111%) since Jan 2020.
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Pennsylvania$1,507
- United States$1,922
Asking rents in Ephrata, PA rose 5.3% over the past year — faster than the nation's +2.7%.
Living in Ephrata, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
Ephrata is a borough of 13,794 people in Lancaster County. Half its households earn more than $69,735 a year and half less, against $86,959 across Lancaster County; 8% of its people live below the poverty line. 56% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 44% are rented. Unemployment in Lancaster County was 3.2% in August 2026, and the county had 0.9% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then manufacturing.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Ephrata is a borough in Lancaster County, a small town where neighbors tend to know one another. Its residents are somewhat younger than in many small towns, and household incomes run below the county's. More homes here are rented than across the county as a whole, though most are still lived in by their owners. Winters are cold, summers are warm, and rain and melted snow fall at a fairly steady rate through the year.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, with manufacturing, shops and the building trades close behind. The biggest workplaces in town include Ephrata Community Hospital, Ephrata Area Schools and Weis Markets. Unemployment across Lancaster County has eased compared with a year earlier, and the county has added a few more jobs. Most people drive a typical distance to work, and few work from home.
Things to do. The Ephrata Cloister, a museum in or beside town, is the closest place to start, and Cocalico Creek runs through the same area. A short drive away, Middle Creek offers a stretch of river to walk beside. For a longer day out, Hersheypark and Dutch Wonderland are amusement parks a longer drive from town.
Report a mistake
- 6,048households
- 23%of adults have a degree
- 8%below the poverty line
- 23 mintypical commute
- 6%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Lancaster County had 254,207 jobs in 2025, 0.9% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 40° and lows near 22°; warmest in July, with highs near 86° and lows near 65°. About 42 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Lancaster Airport weather station, 7 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Ephrata
- Ephrata Community HospitalGeneral hospital677FTE
- Ephrata Area SDSchool district601FTE
- Weis MarketsSupermarkets and other grocery140
- Astro Machine WorksMachine shops125
- Keystone Villa at EphrataHomes for the aged without nursing care104
- Ira G Steffy & SonStructural steel, fabricated, manufacturing100
- Gooding, Simpson & MackesRoofing contractors96
- Wenrich PaintingPainting contractors88
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 16 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 2,065 people in all. Hospitals come from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023) and school districts from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- Winter weatherRelatively high
- Inland floodingRelatively moderate
- LightningRelatively moderate
- Cold wavesRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Ephrata’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively low. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Lancaster County and the Lancaster, PA metro.
Ephrata home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
Not enough data to draw this yet.
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 5 Ephrata listings, and the typical home goes pending in 6 days — the market is roughly in balance.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Share of listings with a price cut
The early-warning dial: sellers cut when buyers stop reaching. Rising cuts cool a market months before prices notice.
- Ephrata21.81%
- United States26.90%
Days to pending
How long the typical listing takes to go under contract.
- Ephrata6
- United States27
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Ephrata41
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Ephrata25
Sale-to-list ratio
Above 100%, homes sell over asking; below, buyers negotiate wins.
- Ephrata103.03%
Zip codes with a Ephrata address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Ephrata — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.