Berlin has lower household incomes than 79% of U.S. towns
Home is the office for 5% of workers; Pennsylvania has 16%. 7.2% of residents live below the poverty line, against 11.7% across Pennsylvania. The two grades for Berlin are C for jobs and income and A− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Berlin: the gist
Commutes from Berlin are quick
The average trip to work takes 19 minutes, against 26 across Pennsylvania. That’s about 54 hours a year less on the road than the typical Pennsylvania worker. Time on the road ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Berlin than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Berlin fell from 724 in 2013 to 524 in 2023, −28%. 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 ↓
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; with 829 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The four measures behind Berlin’s grade
On income, poverty and job access, Berlin is better than 32% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Berlin’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($56,574, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (8.0%) is left out: Berlin’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, Berlin could be anywhere from C− to B−.
About 19 minutes each way, quicker than most of Pennsylvania
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Berlin workers work from home, vs 16% across Pennsylvania. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 768 commuters (the 5% 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 kinds of work in Berlin
524 jobs are based in Berlin.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Berlin, 2013 → 2023: 724 → 524. 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 Berlin’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily commute in and out of Berlin
On a workday 740 residents head out to work, 89 work right here, and 435 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,700 people are in Berlin on a workday afternoon, 16% fewer than live here.
0.63 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 2023, primary jobs.
Where Berlin’s working residents head each day
Where Berlin clocks in
16% of workers
13% of workers
6% 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.
Half of Berlin commutes less than 11 miles
About 23% 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.
Berlin is easy on foot, hard by bus
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.7% 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 809 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). 3.7% of Berlin households have no vehicle (Pennsylvania 10.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Berlin’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Berlin is 3,066th among 5,234 U.S. towns of 1,400 to 2,600
| # | 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 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 28 | Newtown PA | 2,257 | $166K | 2.0% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 29 | Edgeworth PA | 1,611 | $203K | 3.0% | 3.9% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 52 | West Conshohocken PA | 1,498 | $139K | 5.0% | 1.6% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,064 | Newbury VT | 2,371 | $62K | 14.0% | 2.0% | 10% | C |
| 3,065 | Castleton-on-Hudson NY | 1,463 | $52K | 14.1% | 19.1% | 4% | C |
| 3,066 | Berlin PA | 1,956 | $57K | 7.2% | 8.0% | 11% | C |
| 3,067 | Bells TN | 2,473 | $56K | 25.7% | 2.7% | 15% | C |
| 3,068 | Idalou TX | 2,105 | $59K | 15.9% | 2.9% | 12% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 5,234 | 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 Berlin, 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 Berlin: questions
What is the median household income in Berlin?
$56,574 (±$5,191) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,971 across Pennsylvania and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Berlin?
7.2%, against 11.7% across Pennsylvania and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Berlin?
19 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Pennsylvania and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Berlin work?
11% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Somerset (16%, 9 mi), Somerset Township (13%, 9 mi), Brothersvalley Township (6%, 2 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Berlin walkable?
Berlin is more walkable than 79% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 11.4 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Berlin without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Berlin, from the people who make the trip.
More of Berlin
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.