Photo: Doug Kerr · CC BY-SA 2.0Households in Canton earn less than those in 95% of U.S. towns
Working from home is the commute for 5% of workers, against 16% across Pennsylvania. 22.2% of residents are in poverty; Pennsylvania has 11.7%. Jobs and income earn Canton D−; getting around on foot earns it A.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Canton stands out on work
Fewer jobs are based in Canton than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Canton fell from 758 in 2013 to 570 in 2023, −25%. 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 Canton are quick
The average trip to work takes 21 minutes, against 26 across Pennsylvania. That’s about 38 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 771 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Why Canton gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty and job access, Canton is better than 2% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Canton’s grade.
Unemployment (8.1%) is left out: Canton’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Canton stays D−.
What the 570 jobs in Canton are
570 jobs are based in Canton.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Canton, 2013 → 2023: 758 → 570. 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 Canton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 21 minutes each way for Canton’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Canton workers work from home, vs 16% across Pennsylvania. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 476 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 workday shuffle in and out of Canton
On a workday 649 residents head out to work, 122 work right here, and 448 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,500 people are in Canton on a workday afternoon, 12% fewer than live here.
0.74 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.
10% of working residents work in Canton Township
Where Canton clocks in
10% 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.
Miles to work from Canton
About 24% 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.
Canton is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Canton is more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Canton 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 502 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 16.0% of Canton households have no vehicle (Pennsylvania 10.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Canton’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,300, and where Canton sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 11 | Bryn Athyn PA | 1,304 | $143K | 0.3% | 2.6% | 16% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 36 | Newtown PA | 2,257 | $166K | 2.0% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 37 | Edgeworth PA | 1,611 | $203K | 3.0% | 3.9% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,561 | Carnegie OK | 1,366 | $44K | 21.6% | 5.0% | 29% | D− |
| 5,562 | Waurika OK | 1,867 | $46K | 28.1% | 7.4% | 26% | D− |
| 5,563 | Canton PA | 1,682 | $42K | 22.2% | 8.1% | 16% | D− |
| 5,564 | Springville Township MI | 1,800 | $47K | 24.8% | 7.9% | 5% | D− |
| 5,565 | Grayville IL | 1,483 | $46K | 29.8% | 8.5% | 7% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,760 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 Canton, 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 Canton: questions
What is the median household income in Canton?
$42,132 (±$3,250) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,971 across Pennsylvania and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Canton?
22.2%, against 11.7% across Pennsylvania and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Canton?
21 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Pennsylvania and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Canton work?
16% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Canton Township (10%, 2 mi), Troy (6%, 9 mi), Towanda (5%, 22 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Canton walkable?
Canton is more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 9.8 out of 20, and 9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Canton without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 16% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Canton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Canton
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.