Photo: Lee Cannon from Bayville aka West Fenwick, DE, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0Unemployment in Harrington (2.9%) is lower than in 71% of U.S. towns
A typical one-way commute lasts 25 minutes, where Delaware has 26 and the U.S. 26. For jobs and income Harrington is better than 63% of U.S. towns (B); for walkability it is more walkable than 61% of U.S. towns (B). Only 8% stay in Harrington for work; outside it, Dover is the main destination (14%, 16 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Harrington: the gist
Harrington trades workers with the towns around it
Harrington has about as many jobs (1,696) as working residents (1,671), but they are mostly different people: 1,539 residents leave for work each day while 1,564 people come in. Only 8% of the jobs in Harrington are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Harrington has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Harrington went from 1,123 in 2013 to 1,696 in 2023, +51%. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Jobs & income in Harrington: the grade in detail
Unemployment holds Harrington’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($72,679, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on the poverty rate.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Harrington could be anywhere from C− to A.
Who works in Harrington, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 1,539 residents head out to work, 132 work right here, and 1,564 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.01 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Inside Harrington’s 1,696 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Harrington, 2013 → 2023: 1,123 → 1,696. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Harrington’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Out of Harrington to work: where people go
Where Harrington clocks in
14% of workers
10% of workers
3% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
About 25 minutes to work from Harrington
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Harrington workers work from home, vs 15% across Delaware. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,590 commuters (the 15% who work from home are left out). Across Delaware: 84% drive alone, 2% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
How many miles Harrington commutes
About 27% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Harrington is a driving town
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 4.9% across Delaware.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,874 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 89% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 89% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 61% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 8.4% of Harrington households have no vehicle (Delaware 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Harrington’s commuters take a bus or train.
Harrington is 1,571st of 4,177 U.S. towns of 2,800 to 5,400 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 394 | Clayton DE | 4,527 | $107K | 5.3% | 1.3% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 409 | Greenville DE | 3,713 | $143K | 4.0% | 4.2% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 493 | Townsend DE | 2,985 | $153K | 2.4% | 3.7% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,569 | Highland IN | 5,114 | $98K | 8.6% | 5.4% | 1% | B |
| 1,570 | New Castle CO | 4,896 | $80K | 6.2% | 0.8% | 5% | B |
| 1,571 | Harrington DE | 3,974 | $73K | 6.9% | 2.9% | 8% | B |
| 1,572 | Forsyth IL | 3,613 | $112K | 11.3% | 4.6% | 5% | B |
| 1,573 | Buchanan MI | 4,143 | $56K | 7.1% | 2.2% | 11% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 4,177 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Harrington, the top three, the last and three more from Delaware.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Harrington: questions
What is the median household income in Harrington?
$72,679 (±$17,615) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $84,954 across Delaware and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Harrington?
6.9%, against 10.4% across Delaware and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Harrington?
25 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Delaware and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Harrington work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Dover (14%, 16 mi), Milford (10%, 8 mi), Georgetown (3%, 19 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Harrington walkable?
Harrington is more walkable than 61% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 10.7 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Harrington without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. 89% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Harrington, from the people who make the trip.
More of Harrington
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.