Photo: Public domain · Public domainChambersburg has 1.8 jobs for every working resident: 13,747 people commute in to work
Measured by household income, Chambersburg is behind 79% of U.S. towns. Employers in Chambersburg report 16,098 jobs, against 8,784 working residents. Chambersburg grades 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
Chambersburg and work: the main findings
Chambersburg is where the jobs are
Chambersburg has 16,098 jobs, 1.8 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Chambersburg are quick
The average trip to work takes 17 minutes, against 26 across Pennsylvania. That’s about 69 hours a year less on the road than the typical Pennsylvania worker, and quicker than any town next door (23 to 24 minutes). 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.
How Chambersburg earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Chambersburg is better than 22% of U.S. towns, #935 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Job access by car holds Chambersburg’s grade up (ahead of 60% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (7.8%, U.S. 5.2%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Chambersburg could be anywhere from D to C+.
Who commutes out of Chambersburg, and who commutes in
On a workday 6,433 residents head out to work and 2,351 work right here.
About 31,000 people are in Chambersburg on a workday afternoon, 31% more than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Commuting from Chambersburg: about 17 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Chambersburg workers work from home, vs 16% across Pennsylvania. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 9,001 commuters (the 10% 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 towns that send workers to Chambersburg
Where Chambersburg clocks in
9% 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.
The kinds of work in Chambersburg
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Chambersburg, 2013 → 2023: 15,187 → 16,098. 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 Chambersburg’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Short hops and long hauls from Chambersburg
About 25% 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.
Chambersburg is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Chambersburg is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns, #218 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Both inputs place Chambersburg 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 9,975 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). 9.5% of Chambersburg households have no vehicle (Pennsylvania 10.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Chambersburg’s commuters take a bus or train.
Chambersburg places 1,588th of 1,780 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 16,000 to 32,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Lake Forest IL | 19,731 | $235K | 3.5% | 1.8% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 11 | West Whiteland Township PA | 20,826 | $133K | 3.0% | 1.7% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 27 | South Fayette Township PA | 18,648 | $124K | 3.6% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,586 | Twentynine Palms CA | 25,939 | $63K | 14.5% | 3.9% | 16% | C− |
| 1,587 | Maple Heights OH | 22,902 | $53K | 25.4% | 11.6% | 3% | C− |
| 1,588 | Chambersburg PA | 23,376 | $57K | 15.3% | 7.8% | 27% | C− |
| 1,589 | Selma CA | 24,702 | $60K | 19.0% | 13.3% | 12% | C− |
| 1,590 | Moscow ID | 26,721 | $57K | 25.1% | 7.9% | 49% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,780 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Chambersburg, the top three, the last and three more from Pennsylvania.
Next door is work for 14% of Chambersburg
The biggest share goes to Guilford Township (9%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Chambersburg workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chambersburg | – | C− | A | 17 min | $56,576 |
| Hamilton Township | 1% | B+ | C− | 23 min | $99,821 |
| Guilford Township | 9% | B | B− | 23 min | $78,389 |
| Greene Township | 4% | A− | C | 24 min | $87,691 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Chambersburg’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 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 Chambersburg: questions
What is the median household income in Chambersburg?
$56,576 (±$7,167) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,971 across Pennsylvania and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Chambersburg?
15.3%, against 11.7% across Pennsylvania and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Chambersburg?
17 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Pennsylvania and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Chambersburg work?
27% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Guilford Township (9%, 4 mi), Greene Township (4%, 5 mi), Antrim Township (4%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Chambersburg walkable?
Chambersburg is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 10.0 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Chambersburg without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Chambersburg, from the people who make the trip.
More of Chambersburg
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.