Photo: Paulo Ordoveza from Washington, DC · CC BY 2.0There are 3.5 jobs in Derry Township for every working resident, and 32,232 people commute in
About one in three work in Derry Township itself; outside it, Harrisburg draws the most (6%, 12 miles). There are 35,814 jobs in Derry Township, against 10,281 working residents. For jobs and income Derry Township is better than 67% of U.S. towns (B+); for walkability it is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns (A).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Derry Township in brief
Derry Township fills up on a workday
Derry Township has 35,814 jobs, 3.5 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 51,000 people are in town, more than double the 25,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
Derry Township has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Derry Township went from 22,781 in 2013 to 35,814 in 2023, +57%. The jobs ↓
Derry Township draws workers from far and wide
The 35,814 jobs in Derry Township are filled from a wide area. Derry Township’s own residents hold 10% and the ten next-biggest home towns 26%; the other 64% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Commutes from Derry Township 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 ↓
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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
The figures behind Derry Township’s Jobs & income grade
Job access by car holds Derry Township’s grade up (ahead of 80% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (13.1%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on household income and unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Derry Township could be anywhere from B− to A−.
Who works in Derry Township, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 6,699 residents head out to work and 3,582 work right here.
About 51,000 people are in Derry Township on a workday afternoon, 101% more than live here.
3.5 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
69% of the jobs in Derry Township pay over $3,333 a month
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Derry Township, 2013 → 2023: 22,781 → 35,814. 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 Derry Township’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The towns that send workers to Derry Township
Where Derry Township clocks in
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.
Each way, about 19 minutes from Derry Township
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Derry Township workers work from home, vs 16% across Pennsylvania. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 10,440 commuters (the 19% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Derry Township
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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Derry Township
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 8.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 8.6% across Pennsylvania, on an EPA index of 8.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 12,866 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 21% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 7% 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). 4.1% of Derry Township households have no vehicle (Pennsylvania 10.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Derry Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 18,000 to 34,000, Derry Township ranks 770th of 1,516 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | South Fayette Township PA | 18,648 | $124K | 3.6% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 768 | Tumwater WA | 28,010 | $95K | 7.0% | 5.3% | 17% | B+ |
| 769 | Limestone Township IL | 18,035 | $71K | 7.8% | 3.2% | 12% | B+ |
| 770 | Derry Township PA | 25,179 | $97K | 13.1% | 3.8% | 35% | B+ |
| 771 | Englewood NJ | 30,035 | $103K | 9.2% | 7.8% | 12% | B+ |
| 772 | Brownstown Township MI | 32,680 | $95K | 8.5% | 5.9% | 4% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,516 | Nogales AZ | 19,495 | $43K | 28.0% | 15.7% | 37% | 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 Derry Township, the top three, the last and three more from Pennsylvania.
Derry Township and the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Lower Swatara Township (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Derry Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Derry Township | – | B+ | A | 19 min | $97,025 |
| East Hanover Township | under 2% | B+ | C | 20 min | $99,922 |
| South Hanover Township | under 2% | A | B− | 18 min | $117,585 |
| Lower Swatara Township | 3% | A− | B+ | 22 min | $87,163 |
| Hummelstown | under 2% | B− | A | 26 min | $63,175 |
| Swatara Township | 3% | B+ | B | 20 min | $80,444 |
| Union Deposit | under 2% | — | — | 9 min | — |
| Palmyra | under 2% | B | A− | 20 min | $77,469 |
| North Londonderry Township | under 2% | A | B+ | 20 min | $108,548 |
Same-state neighbors only. Union Deposit: 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 Derry Township’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 Derry Township: questions
What is the median household income in Derry Township?
$97,025 (±$9,346) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,971 across Pennsylvania and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Derry Township?
13.1%, against 11.7% across Pennsylvania and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Derry Township?
19 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Pennsylvania and 26 nationally. 19% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Derry Township work?
35% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Harrisburg (6%, 12 mi), Lower Paxton Township (4%, 9 mi), Swatara Township (3%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Derry Township walkable?
Derry Township is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.3 out of 20, and 8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Derry Township without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 7% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Derry Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of Derry Township
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.