More people are out of work in Bear Creek Township (8.8%) than in 91% of U.S. towns
A typical one-way commute lasts 30 minutes (Pennsylvania 26, U.S. 26). Bear Creek Township grades B for jobs and income and D− for walkability. Only 2% work in Bear Creek Township itself; outside it, Wilkes-Barre draws the most (17%, 8 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Bear Creek Township stands out on work
Bear Creek Township’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Bear Creek Township is better than 57% of U.S. towns, #612 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. The poverty rate holds Bear Creek Township’s grade up (4.3%, U.S. 12.5%); unemployment pulls it down. It also does well on household income and job access by car.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Bear Creek Township could be anywhere from C+ to A−.
Who commutes out of Bear Creek Township, and who commutes in
On a workday 1,109 residents head out to work, 21 work right here, and 181 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,900 people are in Bear Creek Township on a workday afternoon, 33% fewer than live here.
0.18 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
The places Bear Creek Township commutes to
Where Bear Creek Township clocks in
17% 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.
What the 202 jobs in Bear Creek Township are
202 jobs are based in Bear Creek Township.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bear Creek Township, 2014 → 2024: 209 → 202. 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 Bear Creek Township’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Bear Creek Township spends getting to work: about 30 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bear Creek Township workers work from home, vs 16% across Pennsylvania. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,165 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.
The distance from Bear Creek Township to work
About 20% 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.
Bear Creek Township is a driving town
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,350 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). 5.6% of Bear Creek Township households have no vehicle (Pennsylvania 10.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Bear Creek Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
1,853rd of 4,703: where Bear Creek Township ranks among U.S. towns of 2,000 to 3,800
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 20 | Wallace Township PA | 3,759 | $183K | 1.9% | 0.0% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 30 | Newtown PA | 2,257 | $166K | 2.0% | 2.3% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 65 | Churchill PA | 3,014 | $107K | 1.9% | 1.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,851 | Mount Pulaski Township IL | 2,018 | $73K | 5.9% | 2.2% | 16% | B |
| 1,852 | Unadilla Township MI | 3,284 | $72K | 7.1% | 3.5% | 4% | B |
| 1,853 | Bear Creek Township PA | 2,820 | $88K | 4.3% | 8.8% | 2% | B |
| 1,854 | Pine Lake WI | 2,733 | $84K | 8.4% | 1.3% | 2% | B |
| 1,855 | Mohnton PA | 2,939 | $81K | 9.6% | 5.8% | 2% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 4,703 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 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 Bear Creek Township, the top three, the last and three more from Pennsylvania.
The towns next door employ 18% of Bear Creek Township
The biggest share goes to Plains Township (11%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Bear Creek Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bear Creek Township | – | B | D− | 30 min | $88,333 |
| Kidder Township | under 2% | B− | D | 34 min | $78,854 |
| Penn Lake Park | under 2% | — | — | 35 min | — |
| Buck Township | 2% | — | — | 32 min | — |
| Dennison Township | under 2% | — | — | 32 min | — |
| Jenkins Township | 2% | C+ | C | 19 min | $54,878 |
| Thornhurst Township | under 2% | C | D− | 38 min | $71,625 |
| Fairview Township | under 2% | A− | C | 24 min | $96,500 |
| Plains Township | 11% | C+ | B | 20 min | $73,790 |
| Laurel Run | under 2% | — | — | 22 min | — |
| Hanover Township | 3% | C | A− | 19 min | $61,056 |
Same-state neighbors only. Penn Lake Park, Buck Township and Laurel Run: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Dennison Township: not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Bear Creek Township’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 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 Bear Creek Township: questions
What is the median household income in Bear Creek Township?
$88,333 (±$21,713) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,971 across Pennsylvania and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bear Creek Township?
4.3%, against 11.7% across Pennsylvania and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bear Creek Township?
30 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Pennsylvania and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bear Creek Township work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Wilkes-Barre (17%, 8 mi), Plains Township (11%, 6 mi), Kingston (4%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Bear Creek Township walkable?
Bear Creek Township is more walkable than 2% of U.S. towns (Walkability D−): an EPA walkability index of 3.8 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bear Creek Township without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Bear Creek Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bear Creek Township
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.