Wilkes-Barre is a medium-sized city located in the state of Pennsylvania. With a population of 44,254 people and 24 associated neighborhoods, Wilkes-Barre is the 14th largest community in Pennsylvania. Wilkes-Barre has an unusually large stock of pre-World War II architecture, making it one of the older and more historic cities.

One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 7.41% 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.

In terms of college education, Wilkes-Barre is nearly on par with the US average for all cities of 21.84%: 19.40% of adults 25 and older in Wilkes-Barre have a bachelor's degree or advanced degree.

The per capita income in Wilkes-Barre in 2022 was $25,581, which is low income relative to Pennsylvania and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $102,324 for a family of four. However, Wilkes-Barre contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

Wilkes-Barre is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Wilkes-Barre home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Wilkes-Barre residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Wilkes-Barre also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 30.61% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Wilkes-Barre include Irish, Polish, German, Italian, and English.

Wilkes-Barre also has a high percentage of its population that was born in another country: 15.09%.

The most common language spoken in Wilkes-Barre is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and French.