Photo: Diana · CC BY 2.0With 0.2 jobs for every working resident, most of Ashley works elsewhere
241 jobs are based in Ashley, against 1,168 working residents. For jobs and income Ashley is better than 46% of U.S. towns (B−); for walkability it is more walkable than 65% of U.S. towns (B). Measured by household income, Ashley is behind 79% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Ashley and work: the main findings
Fewer jobs are based in Ashley than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Ashley fell from 679 in 2013 to 241 in 2023, −65%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Ashley are quick
The average trip to work takes 17 minutes, against 26 across Pennsylvania. That’s about 69 hours a year less on the road than the typical Pennsylvania worker. Time on the road ↓
Ashley is a place people come home to
There are 241 jobs based in Ashley, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Ashley has about 1,700 people in it, 35% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Most Ashley residents work close to home
64% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. How far ↓
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.
What’s behind Ashley’s Jobs & income grade
Unemployment holds Ashley’s grade up (1.8%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down (23.9%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Ashley could be anywhere from C to B.
The kinds of work in Ashley
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ashley, 2013 → 2023: 679 → 241. 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 Ashley’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The trip to work from Ashley: about 17 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ashley workers work from home, vs 16% across Pennsylvania. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 998 commuters (the 14% 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.
A workday in Ashley: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 1,154 residents head out to work, 14 work right here, and 227 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,700 people are in Ashley on a workday afternoon, 35% 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 2023, primary jobs.
Near or far: the trip to work from Ashley
About 16% 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.
16% of working residents work in Wilkes-Barre
Where Ashley clocks in
16% 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.
For most of Ashley, work means a drive
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 8.6% across Pennsylvania.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,154 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). 11.0% of Ashley households have no vehicle (Pennsylvania 10.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Ashley’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Ashley is 2,488th of 5,083 U.S. towns of 1,800 to 3,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 28 | Newtown PA | 2,257 | $166K | 2.0% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 62 | Churchill PA | 3,014 | $107K | 1.9% | 1.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 76 | Thornbury Township PA | 3,165 | $172K | 2.4% | 2.5% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,486 | Mesopotamia Township OH | 3,376 | $66K | 20.3% | 1.0% | 5% | B− |
| 2,487 | Briar Creek Township PA | 3,044 | $77K | 6.0% | 6.3% | 1% | B− |
| 2,488 | Ashley PA | 2,627 | $57K | 23.9% | 1.8% | 1% | B− |
| 2,489 | Inman SC | 3,458 | $64K | 15.4% | 3.5% | 3% | B− |
| 2,490 | Benton ME | 2,821 | $61K | 10.0% | 1.7% | 4% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,083 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Ashley, the top three, the last and three more from Pennsylvania.
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 Ashley: questions
What is the median household income in Ashley?
$56,500 (±$7,697) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,971 across Pennsylvania and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ashley?
23.9%, against 11.7% across Pennsylvania and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ashley?
17 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Pennsylvania and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ashley work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Wilkes-Barre (16%, 3 mi), Hanover Township (14%, 2 mi), Plains Township (7%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Ashley walkable?
Ashley is more walkable than 65% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.4 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ashley without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Ashley, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ashley
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.