Photo: Mr. Matté (if there is an issue with this image, contact me using this image's Commons talk page, my Commons user talk page, or my English Wikipedia user talk page; I'll know about it a lot faster) · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in Boswell are lower than in 85% of U.S. towns
13.7% of residents are in poverty, against 11.7% across Pennsylvania. Boswell grades C− for jobs and income and B− for walkability. 7% of workers have no commute at all, where Pennsylvania as a whole has 16%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Boswell, in brief
Fewer jobs are based in Boswell than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Boswell fell from 472 in 2013 to 293 in 2023, −38%. 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 Boswell 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 ↓
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 485 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Boswell’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Boswell is better than 21% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Boswell’s grade up (ahead of 42% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($52,500, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (1.8%) is left out: Boswell’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Boswell could be anywhere from D to B.
The kinds of work in Boswell
293 jobs are based in Boswell.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Boswell, 2013 → 2023: 472 → 293. 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 Boswell’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 20 minutes in Boswell
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Boswell workers work from home, vs 16% across Pennsylvania. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 515 commuters (the 7% 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 daily flow of workers through Boswell
On a workday 456 residents head out to work, 29 work right here, and 264 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,000 people are in Boswell on a workday afternoon, 16% fewer than live here.
0.60 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.
13% of working residents work in Somerset Township
Where Boswell clocks in
13% of workers
11% of workers
8% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Boswell
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.
Getting around Boswell: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Boswell is more walkable than 53% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.8% 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 555 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). 8.0% of Boswell households have no vehicle (Pennsylvania 10.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Boswell’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Boswell ranks: 2,879th of 4,312 U.S. towns of 800 to 1,600
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 8 | Bryn Athyn PA | 1,304 | $143K | 0.3% | 2.6% | 16% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | Rose Valley PA | 1,017 | $247K | 2.9% | 1.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 27 | Bradford Woods PA | 1,126 | $153K | 1.9% | 1.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,877 | Fall Branch TN | 1,160 | $50K | 19.3% | 0.0% | 1% | C− |
| 2,878 | Park River ND | 1,363 | $69K | 11.3% | 1.6% | 34% | C− |
| 2,879 | Boswell PA | 1,197 | $53K | 13.7% | 1.8% | 6% | C− |
| 2,880 | Lancaster Township IN | 1,486 | $80K | 18.5% | 1.8% | 1% | C− |
| 2,881 | Montville ME | 1,025 | $66K | 10.7% | 3.3% | 2% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,312 | 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 Boswell, 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 Boswell: questions
What is the median household income in Boswell?
$52,500 (±$16,650) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,971 across Pennsylvania and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Boswell?
13.7%, against 11.7% across Pennsylvania and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Boswell?
20 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Pennsylvania and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Boswell work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Somerset Township (13%, 10 mi), Somerset (11%, 11 mi), Jenner Township (8%, 2 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Boswell walkable?
Boswell is more walkable than 53% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 9.1 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Boswell without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Boswell, from the people who make the trip.
More of Boswell
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.