Fast Facts about Downtown Wilkes-Barre

Business:           

• Downtown Wilkes-Barre contains the largest concentration of office space in Northeastern Pennsylvania: a total of 4 million square feet, or around three quarters of the office space in the Greater Wilkes-Barre area.

 

• Over 14,000 people work in Downtown Wilkes-Barre each weekday.

 

• Downtown Wilkes-Barre is home to 686 businesses, including the corporate headquarters or operations of Blue Cross of Northeastern PA, Frontier Pennsylvania, GUARD Insurance Group, Lackawanna Casualty Company, Parente Beard, Penn Millers Insurance Company, Pepperjam/GSI Commerce, and Verizon Wireless.

 

• Downtown Wilkes-Barre is the seat of government for Luzerne County, Pennsylvania's eleventh-largest county; the site of Federal courts for the Middle District of Pennsylvania; and home to numerous state and Federal offices.

 

• Downtown Wilkes-Barre's 200 retail businesses, anchored by Barnes & Noble, Boscov's Department Store, and R/C Theatres' 14-screen multiplex cinema, serve a total trade area population of 202,600; 31% of the households in the total trade area have an income of $50,000 or more.

 

• Downtown Wilkes-Barre contains two full-service hotels with a total of 235 rooms.

 

• Downtown Wilkes-Barre is almost equidistant from New York City and Philadelphia - only 115 miles from Philadelphia and 132 miles from Manhattan.

 

Residents:

 

• According to the 2000 US Census, 3,970 people called Downtown Wilkes-Barre home.

 

• Downtown Wilkes-Barre contains 1,855 housing units, including 237 single-family residences.

 

• 21% of Downtown's residents over the age of 25 have college degrees, compared to 13% of City residents over the age of 25, and 16% of Luzerne County residents over the age of 25.

 

Culture, Education, and the Arts:

 

• Downtown Wilkes-Barre hosts the campuses of two four-year institutions of higher education - Wilkes University, with 3,570 students enrolled, and King's College, with 2,233 students enrolled - as well as Luzerne County Community College's Corporate Learning Center.

 

• In 2004, 125,497 people attended 176 shows on 131 nights at Downtown Wilkes-Barre's F.M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts.

 

• Downtown Wilkes-Barre is home to the Luzerne County Historical Society's history museum and library, as well as to the Sordoni Art Gallery of Wilkes University and the Widmann Art Gallery of King's College.

 

• There are 76 institutions located in Downtown Wilkes-Barre, occupying over 1 million square feet of space, and employing 3,200 people in Downtown Wilkes-Barre.

 

• Since 1998, over $20 million of capital improvements have been completed by Downtown's various institutions.