George Taylor House · Photo: Allreet · CC BY-SA 3.0Most of Catasauqua commutes out: there are 0.3 jobs for every working resident
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 2.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 8.3 in Allentown. 895 jobs are based in Catasauqua, against 3,049 working residents. The two grades for Catasauqua are B− for jobs and income and A for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Catasauqua apart on work
Catasauqua is a place people come home to
There are 895 jobs based in Catasauqua, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Catasauqua has about 4,400 people in it, 33% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Most Catasauqua 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 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Catasauqua’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Catasauqua is better than 54% of U.S. towns, #655 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Job access by car holds Catasauqua’s grade up (ahead of 84% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (8.2%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Catasauqua could be anywhere from C− to A+.
Catasauqua on a workday afternoon
On a workday 2,962 residents head out to work, 87 work right here, and 808 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,400 people are in Catasauqua on a workday afternoon, 33% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
How many miles Catasauqua commutes
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.
11% of working residents work in Allentown
Where Catasauqua clocks in
11% of workers
9% 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.
What Catasauqua’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Catasauqua, 2014 → 2024: 797 → 895. 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 Catasauqua’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Catasauqua’s commute takes about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Catasauqua workers work from home, vs 16% across Pennsylvania. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,068 commuters (the 12% 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.
In Catasauqua, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Catasauqua is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns, #240 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 3.4% 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 3,493 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, 59% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 2.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 71% 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). 4.4% of Catasauqua households have no vehicle (Pennsylvania 10.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Catasauqua’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Catasauqua ranks: 1,724th of 3,283 U.S. towns of 4,600 to 8,900
| # | 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 | Norwood NJ | 5,817 | $178K | 2.8% | 0.9% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | West Vincent Township PA | 6,885 | $203K | 1.4% | 0.8% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 27 | Edgmont Township PA | 4,706 | $137K | 2.4% | 1.1% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 62 | Upper Nazareth Township PA | 8,521 | $122K | 1.2% | 0.9% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,722 | Allenstown NH | 4,882 | $73K | 11.9% | 2.7% | 5% | B− |
| 1,723 | Upper Deerfield Township NJ | 8,111 | $83K | 12.5% | 4.4% | 11% | B− |
| 1,724 | Catasauqua PA | 6,590 | $85K | 9.6% | 8.2% | 3% | B− |
| 1,725 | Wayne Township OH | 4,756 | $80K | 6.5% | 6.5% | 1% | B− |
| 1,726 | Montgomery Township PA | 5,823 | $99K | 7.9% | 4.0% | 5% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,283 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 6% | 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 Catasauqua, the top three, the last and three more from Pennsylvania.
Work in the towns next to Catasauqua
The biggest share goes to Whitehall Township (4%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Catasauqua workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Catasauqua | – | B− | A | 24 min | $85,049 |
| Hanover Township | under 3% | B− | A | 20 min | $55,652 |
| Whitehall Township | 4% | B− | A− | 26 min | $75,658 |
| Fullerton | under 3% | — | — | 25 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Fullerton: a Census-designated place inside a larger town, graded as part of it. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Catasauqua’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 Catasauqua: questions
What is the median household income in Catasauqua?
$85,049 (±$34,570) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,971 across Pennsylvania and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Catasauqua?
9.6%, against 11.7% across Pennsylvania and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Catasauqua?
24 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Pennsylvania and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Catasauqua work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Allentown (11%, 4 mi), Bethlehem (9%, 5 mi), Upper Macungie Township (6%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Catasauqua walkable?
Catasauqua is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 14.4 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Catasauqua without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 59% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Catasauqua, from the people who make the trip.
More of Catasauqua
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.