I’d like to open today’s newsletter with a look at Pennsylvania’s housing shortage, and how it dovetails with challenges surrounding affordability and cost of living.

The state’s median home sale price is up to $340,000, representing a 6.2% increase from a year ago, according to the Pennsylvania Association of Realtors. That surge in real estate prices indicates housing availability has not kept up with demand.

Low inventory drives prices high, pushing potential buyers out of the market and making home ownership exceedingly evasive for average working people.

It pressures potential renters, too, since landlords can raise rents as demand exceeds supply across many housing types.

The average rent price in Pennsylvania rose from $1,013 in 2017 to $1,476 in 2023, a 46% increase, according to a paper published in 2025 by The Pew Charitable Trusts. It noted that the increase in rent is “much larger than the increase in wages and prices for other goods and services” over those six years.

Rent increases are pushing some Pennsylvanians out of their homes altogether. In Lebanon County, where more than 1,600 households are living in substandard conditions, including overcrowding, kitchen/bathroom issues, gas leaks, or lead paint, 55-year-old Nancy Johnson had to resort to living out of her car for a spell when she could no longer afford her rent. 

Johnson told the Lebanon Daily News that she works at least two jobs. Yet between various medical expenses, insurance, her phone bill, and even basic necessities like food, it was always a “tap dance” on whether she could afford rent.

Her landlord said to file for housing assistance, or possibly even look for subsidized housing. But all Johnson could find was “waiting list after waiting list.”

“If it wasn’t for [friends], I’d still be sleeping in a parking lot around here,” she said, adding that she found lodging in the beginning of July.

Bird-in-Hand is located in Lancaster County. (Doug Kerr/Creative Commons)

With more than 2,500 municipalities including boroughs, townships, and cities, as well as countless unincorporated hamlets and villages, Pennsylvania is chock full of town names that appear, well, a little bizarre. 

We’ve previously covered the origins of some of the commonwealth’s more suggestive town names. This time around, we’re highlighting those Pa. towns and other communities with funny, head-scratching, or otherwise interesting names that are a little more family friendly. Think Nanty-Glo, Bird-in-Hand, Pillow, Forty Fort, Eighty Four, Mars, and others.

We’ve got the stories behind these and other Pa. towns with weird names right here.

• More on affordability: Pennsylvania homeowners are paying an average of 20% more than they were two years ago on electric bills, according to the state’s Independent Fiscal Office. Get the details of the report here.

• More on Pa.’s housing crisis: Residents of manufactured home communities around the state are banding together to press for a law that would protect them from sharp rent hikes. Find out more in this story.

• A Bucks County municipality is initiating a preemptive strike on regulating additional data centers by declaring part of its zoning ordinance “substantially invalid.” Find out more here.

An aerial view of tubers on the Youghiogheny River in the Laurel Highlands setting a new Guinness record for the longest line of connected swimming tubes, Aug. 1, 2026. (Go Laurel Highlands)

There’s a Guinness World Record for pretty much everything. Case in point: A Guinness Record was set Saturday on the Youghiogheny River in the Laurel Highlands for the longest line of connected swimming tubes.

In total, there were 645 connected tubes at the Tube da Ville event on the Youghiogheny in Connellsville. See aerial photo above.

Seven lines of connected tubers managed to remain joined for 30 seconds to break the record of 620 set in Portland, Oregon, 13 years ago.

The event was the brainchild of Kevin Leonard and Jason Bandemer, co-owners of Trippy Hippie Brewing Co., who said they couldn’t have pulled it off without support from the Fayette County community.

“It was a massive effort to make this happen, but it’s well worth it now,” said Bandemer, who fought to hold back tears of joy. “I didn’t think I’d be this emotional. We put a ton of effort into it, and it’s amazing for the City of Connellsville and for our whole entire area. It’s awesome.”

Thanks for reading. This newsletter was written by Patrick Berkery with stories from Kalena Thomhave, and USA Today via Reuters Connect. It was edited by Crystal Niforos.

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