Photo: Ken Lund · CC BY-SA 2.0Making a living in Abbottstown
At home: 9% of workers have no commute at all (Pennsylvania 16%). Jobs and income earn Abbottstown B+; getting around on foot earns it B. Only 4% work in Abbottstown itself; outside it, Hanover draws the most (14%, 5 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Abbottstown in brief
Abbottstown’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty and job access, Abbottstown is better than 65% of U.S. towns. Job access by car is its strongest input (ahead of 68% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (9.3%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
Unemployment (4.1%) is left out: Abbottstown’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, Abbottstown could be anywhere from B− to A−.
Abbottstown works in goods: 67% of its jobs
617 jobs are based in Abbottstown.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Abbottstown, 2013 → 2023: 275 → 617. 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 Abbottstown’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Abbottstown by day and by night
On a workday 459 residents head out to work, 20 work right here, and 597 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,200 people are in Abbottstown on a workday afternoon, 13% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.29 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.
Where the trip to work from Abbottstown ends
Where Abbottstown clocks in
14% of workers
4% 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.
The daily trip from Abbottstown: about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Abbottstown workers work from home, vs 16% across Pennsylvania. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 405 commuters (the 9% who work from home are left out). Across Pennsylvania: 81% drive alone, 4% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Miles to work from Abbottstown
About 17% 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.
In Abbottstown, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Abbottstown is more walkable than 58% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Abbottstown near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 445 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 2.4% of Abbottstown households have no vehicle (Pennsylvania 10.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Abbottstown’s commuters take a bus or train.
Abbottstown is 615th of 3,133 U.S. towns of 700 to 1,400 on jobs and income
| # | 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% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 7 | Bryn Athyn PA | 1,304 | $143K | 0.3% | 2.6% | 16% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 11 | Rose Valley PA | 1,017 | $247K | 2.9% | 1.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 22 | Bradford Woods PA | 1,126 | $153K | 1.9% | 1.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 613 | Howard Township IN | 1,220 | $96K | 0.4% | 0.0% | <1% | B+ |
| 614 | Stow Creek Township NJ | 1,356 | $105K | 7.8% | 8.4% | 4% | B+ |
| 615 | Abbottstown PA | 1,048 | $82K | 9.3% | 4.1% | 4% | B+ |
| 616 | Annawan Township IL | 1,089 | $86K | 5.4% | 4.1% | 6% | B+ |
| 617 | Aurora WI | 1,020 | $87K | 4.6% | 1.4% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,133 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Abbottstown, the top three, the last and three more from Pennsylvania.
The towns around Abbottstown
The biggest share goes to Berwick Township (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Abbottstown workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abbottstown | – | B+ | B | 26 min | $81,607 |
| Paradise Township | under 2% | B+ | D | 30 min | $79,152 |
| Berwick Township | 3% | B+ | C | 27 min | $85,139 |
| Hamilton Township | under 2% | A− | C | 24 min | $107,188 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Abbottstown’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Abbottstown: questions
What is the median household income in Abbottstown?
$81,607 (±$14,687) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,971 across Pennsylvania and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Abbottstown?
9.3%, against 11.7% across Pennsylvania and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Abbottstown?
26 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Pennsylvania and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Abbottstown work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Hanover (14%, 5 mi), Penn Township (7%, 6 mi), New Oxford (4%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Abbottstown walkable?
Abbottstown is more walkable than 58% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.5 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Abbottstown without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Abbottstown, from the people who make the trip.
More of Abbottstown
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.