With 0.3 jobs for every working resident, most of Philadelphia works elsewhere
Philadelphia has 105 jobs, against 347 working residents. The two grades for Philadelphia are D for jobs and income and C− for walkability. Only 3% stay in Philadelphia for work; outside it, Watertown is the main destination (21%, 16 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Philadelphia
Philadelphia is a place people come home to
There are 105 jobs based in Philadelphia, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Philadelphia are quick
The average trip to work takes 24 minutes, against 33 across New York. That’s about 69 hours a year less on the road than the typical New York worker. Time on the road ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 347 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The figures behind Philadelphia’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Philadelphia is better than 10% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Philadelphia’s grade up ($69,732, U.S. $80,734); the poverty rate pulls it down (32.5%, U.S. 12.5%).
Unemployment (4.4%) is left out: Philadelphia’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Philadelphia could be anywhere from D to C−.
Philadelphia quiets down on a workday
On a workday 338 residents head out to work, 9 work right here, and 96 people come in from elsewhere.
About 880 people are in Philadelphia on a workday afternoon, 22% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Each way, about 24 minutes from Philadelphia
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Philadelphia workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 338 commuters (the 8% who work from home are left out). Across New York: 57% drive alone, 25% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Commuting out of Philadelphia: the destinations
Where Philadelphia clocks in
Lines 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.
What Philadelphia’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Philadelphia, 2014 → 2024: 131 → 105. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Philadelphia’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Near or far: the trip to work from Philadelphia
About 26% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Philadelphia is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Philadelphia is more walkable than 15% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 1.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 32.9% across New York, on an EPA index of 4.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 367 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 10.1% of Philadelphia households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Philadelphia’s commuters take a bus or train.
3,076th of 3,771: where Philadelphia ranks among U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 4 | Saddle Rock NY | 1,008 | $176K | 0.8% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,074 | Perryville AR | 1,408 | $57K | 20.6% | 1.3% | 14% | D |
| 3,075 | New Sharon IA | 1,247 | $49K | 14.4% | 3.8% | 4% | D |
| 3,076 | Philadelphia NY | 1,125 | $70K | 32.5% | 4.4% | 3% | D |
| 3,077 | Point Marion PA | 1,094 | $60K | 25.2% | 1.8% | 1% | D |
| 3,078 | Chase Township MI | 1,256 | $62K | 17.7% | 9.1% | 1% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,771 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 1% | 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 Philadelphia, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2024, 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 Philadelphia: questions
What is the median household income in Philadelphia?
$69,732 (±$10,632) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Philadelphia?
32.5%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Philadelphia?
24 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Philadelphia work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Watertown (21%, 16 mi), Philadelphia (16%, 1 mi), Le Ray (8%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Philadelphia walkable?
Philadelphia is more walkable than 15% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 4.4 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Philadelphia without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Philadelphia, from the people who make the trip.
More of Philadelphia
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.