Pennsylvania Match Company · Photo: Mgreason at en.wikipedia · Public domainBellefonte has lower unemployment (0.7%) than 96% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Bellefonte B−; getting around on foot earns it A+. For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 1.8 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 37.7 in Philadelphia. About one in ten stay in Bellefonte for work; outside it, College Township is the main destination (24%, 7 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Bellefonte and work: the main findings
Bellefonte trades workers with the towns around it
Bellefonte has about as many jobs (2,482) as working residents (2,671), but they are mostly different people: 2,372 residents leave for work each day while 2,183 people come in. Only 12% of the jobs in Bellefonte are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Bellefonte are quick
The average trip to work takes 20 minutes, against 26 across Pennsylvania. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical Pennsylvania worker. Time on the road ↓
Most Bellefonte residents work close to home
61% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. 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.
The four measures behind Bellefonte’s grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Bellefonte is better than 54% of U.S. towns, #650 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Unemployment holds Bellefonte’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($62,540, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Bellefonte could be anywhere from C+ to B+.
The workday shuffle in and out of Bellefonte
On a workday 2,372 residents head out to work, 299 work right here, and 2,183 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 (0.93 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.
The daily trip from Bellefonte: about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bellefonte workers work from home, vs 16% across Pennsylvania. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,812 commuters (the 15% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Bellefonte
About 18% 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.
The towns that employ Bellefonte’s residents
Where Bellefonte clocks in
24% of workers
11% of workers
7% 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.
Inside Bellefonte’s 2,482 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bellefonte, 2013 → 2023: 3,160 → 2,482. 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 Bellefonte’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Bellefonte
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Bellefonte is more walkable than 97% of U.S. towns, #72 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Both inputs place Bellefonte 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 3,315 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 83% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.8 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 66% 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). 12.1% of Bellefonte households have no vehicle (Pennsylvania 10.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Bellefonte’s commuters take a bus or train.
Bellefonte is 1,748th of 3,432 U.S. towns of 4,100 to 7,900 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | West Vincent Township PA | 6,885 | $203K | 1.4% | 0.8% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 30 | Edgmont Township PA | 4,706 | $137K | 2.4% | 1.1% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 62 | Pocopson Township PA | 4,480 | $230K | 1.3% | 2.2% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,746 | Rockport MA | 7,126 | $96K | 6.3% | 8.4% | 14% | B− |
| 1,747 | West Milton OH | 4,871 | $63K | 15.3% | 2.3% | 8% | B− |
| 1,748 | Bellefonte PA | 5,862 | $63K | 13.1% | 0.7% | 11% | B− |
| 1,749 | Deerfield Township MI | 5,802 | $72K | 8.9% | 2.0% | 5% | B− |
| 1,750 | Meredith NH | 6,854 | $87K | 7.7% | 3.7% | 23% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,432 | Medina TX | 4,226 | $22K | 53.8% | 10.1% | 4% | 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 Bellefonte, 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 Bellefonte: questions
What is the median household income in Bellefonte?
$62,540 (±$15,295) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,971 across Pennsylvania and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bellefonte?
13.1%, against 11.7% across Pennsylvania and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bellefonte?
20 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Pennsylvania and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bellefonte work?
11% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are College Township (24%, 7 mi), State College (11%, 10 mi), Ferguson Township (7%, 15 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Bellefonte walkable?
Bellefonte is more walkable than 97% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 15.9 out of 20, and 8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bellefonte without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. 83% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Bellefonte, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bellefonte
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.