Asphalt driveway cost in Allentown, PA

Climate in Allentown: timing your asphalt driveway job

We use NOAA's 1991-2020 climate normals for Allentown Intl Ap (5 miles from the city center). These are 30-year monthly averages, not forecasts.

April through November is the stretch where digging, grading and setting material in the ground runs into the fewest weather problems in Allentown (8 of 12 months). January, February, March and December have an average overnight low at or below freezing (32°F).

In January, February, March and December the average low is at or below freezing, which means frozen ground and slower digging, compaction and sod or stone placement. NOAA counts about 118 days a year with a low at or below 32°F at this station.

Allentown gets about 47 inches of precipitation in a normal year, including roughly 33 inches of snow. The wettest months are July, August and September (5.3 inches in July). Inside the workable window, May and November are the driest, at 3.6 and 3.2 inches. The station averages about 18 days a year at 90°F or above.

Does the season change the price? Probably, but we do not have a sourced seasonal price curve, so the estimator shows a year-round figure and does not adjust by month. When you collect quotes, ask whether scheduling in a slower month gets a better rate.

Optional extras in Allentown

Extras are quoted nationally and then scaled to Allentown by the average of the local wage index (1.04) and goods index (1.01), a factor of 1.02. Tick any of them in the estimator above to add them to your total. Treat these as planning figures: an add-on touches different trades than the main job, so the scaling is an approximation.

Related projects, priced for Allentown

Because every project leans on different trades, Allentown's wage level does not move all prices equally. Against the US midpoint, concrete driveway runs +5% and French drain +1%.

Allentown: what basic, standard and premium work costs

Three bands are cut from the same cited range and localized for Allentown wages and prices. They overlap on purpose: a good standard job and a modest premium job can cost the same. The grid below prices the same bands at 4 common sizes.

Specs and site conditions that change a Allentown bid

• Base work

  Four to eight inches of compacted aggregate under the asphalt is where cheap quotes cut corners. Base typically runs $1-$3 per sq ft.

• Small jobs cost more per foot

  Paving crews move a paver, roller and trucks to your address, so a 400 sq ft driveway carries more mobilization per square foot than a 1,000 sq ft one.

• Hot-mix price

  Hot-mix asphalt is $100-$200 per ton delivered and moves with oil prices (PaveGauge).

How Allentown compares

Of the five closest metros, 2 are cheaper than Allentown. Philadelphia is the lowest at about $5,300 (midpoint, 600 sq ft), 60 miles away.

Across 300 US metros, Allentown comes in at #110 from the top. The priciest is Kahului, HI at $7,650; the cheapest is Fort Smith, AR at $4,450 (midpoints, 600 sq ft). Statewide, Allentown is 1% above the Pennsylvania figure.

Other Pennsylvania metros

Cities with a workforce like Allentown's

Big cities and small ones price differently, so here is Allentown against the 4 metros with the closest total employment.

Allentown labor market for asphalt driveway

Wages are the part of this estimate that changes most from town to town. 3 trades carry the job here, and each is compared with its US median. The weighted result for Allentown is 1.04 times the national level.

For paving, surfacing and tamping equipment operators (47-2071, weighted 40%) the local median is $26.35 an hour, which is in line with the national $25.64. The middle half of them earn between $22.20 and $29.15 an hour. BLS counts 30 of them working in the area, 0.8 for every 10,000 jobs (US: 2.7), so the local bench is thinner than average.

Construction laborers (47-2061), 30% of the weighting: a median of $23.70 an hour, 5% above the US median of $22.66. The middle half of them earn between $22.27 and $30.00 an hour. About 1,670 work in the metro. That is 44.3 per 10,000 jobs, compared with 70.5 nationally, so expect fewer local crews to bid.

For operating engineers and other construction equipment operators (47-2073, weighted 30%) the local median is $30.31 an hour, which is 5% above the national $28.78. The middle half of them earn between $25.46 and $36.55 an hour. BLS counts 920 of them working in the area, 24.4 for every 10,000 jobs (US: 30.7), so the local bench is thinner than average.

Quotes come from real crews, not medians. If the paving, surfacing and tamping equipment operators on your job are paid at the 75th percentile ($29.15 an hour) instead of the median, the labor line grows by about $95. At the 25th percentile ($22.20) it shrinks by about $140. The total moves by 1.7% or 2.6%, so wages alone rarely explain a quote that is far outside our range.

For context on the local economy, BLS counts 377,180 jobs in the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton area. That makes it the 69th largest of the 300 metros we cover, with 0.24% of US employment.