Zeta Psi Fraternity House · Photo: Shuvaev · CC BY-SA 3.0At 5.4%, unemployment in Easton is higher than in 67% of U.S. towns
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 5.6 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 8.3 in Allentown. The two grades for Easton are C+ for jobs and income and A+ for walkability. About one in ten stay in Easton for work; outside it, Bethlehem is the main destination (7%, 9 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Easton
No single place dominates Easton’s commute
The biggest draw, Bethlehem, gets only 7% of working residents, and 54% work outside the top ten towns entirely. Easton residents fan out across the region. The commute map ↓
Nearly all the work in Easton is services
86% of the jobs based here are in services, such as health care, schools and offices. Only 7% are in factories, building or farms. The jobs ↓
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.
Why Easton gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Easton is better than 42% of U.S. towns, #765 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Job access by car holds Easton’s grade up (ahead of 79% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (16.3%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Easton could be anywhere from C to B.
Where the trip to work from Easton ends
Where Easton clocks in
7% of workers
6% of workers
5% 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.
Mostly health care, schools and offices in Easton
6,665 jobs are based in Easton.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Easton, 2014 → 2024: 5,854 → 6,665. 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 Easton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Easton on a workday afternoon
On a workday 10,005 residents head out to work, 1,017 work right here, and 5,648 people come in from elsewhere.
About 26,000 people are in Easton on a workday afternoon, 14% 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 2024, primary jobs.
A commute of about 28 minutes in Easton
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Easton workers work from home, vs 16% across Pennsylvania. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 12,552 commuters (the 15% 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 distance from Easton to work
About 18% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Easton is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Easton is more walkable than 96% of U.S. towns, #75 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Both inputs place Easton 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 14,780 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, 86% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 5.6 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 86% 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). 10.8% of Easton households have no vehicle (Pennsylvania 10.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Easton’s commuters take a bus or train.
1,066th of 1,415: where Easton ranks among U.S. towns of 21,000 to 41,000
| # | 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 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 31 | Northampton Township PA | 39,919 | $159K | 2.5% | 3.1% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 45 | Horsham Township PA | 27,882 | $122K | 4.3% | 2.4% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,064 | Bay Point CA | 24,231 | $83K | 14.4% | 10.1% | 3% | C+ |
| 1,065 | South Miami Heights FL | 38,766 | $65K | 15.5% | 5.8% | 4% | C+ |
| 1,066 | Easton PA | 30,402 | $69K | 16.3% | 5.4% | 9% | C+ |
| 1,067 | Kerrville TX | 25,578 | $62K | 11.5% | 2.9% | 39% | C+ |
| 1,068 | Winona MN | 26,530 | $56K | 23.1% | 2.7% | 58% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,415 | Barstow CA | 24,804 | $53K | 23.1% | 11.9% | 16% | 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 Easton, the top three, the last and three more from Pennsylvania.
10% of Easton works in a town next door
The biggest share goes to Palmer Township (6%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Easton workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Easton | – | C+ | A+ | 28 min | $69,348 |
| Palmer Township | 6% | A | A− | 28 min | $116,014 |
| Williams Township | under 3% | A− | D | 33 min | $116,250 |
| Forks Township | 4% | A | C+ | 30 min | $110,190 |
| Glendon | under 3% | — | — | 26 min | — |
| Wilson | under 3% | B | A | 25 min | $82,902 |
| Chestnut Hill | under 3% | — | — | 29 min | — |
| Lower Saucon Township | under 3% | A | B | 27 min | $124,892 |
| Old Orchard | under 3% | — | — | 47 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Glendon: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Chestnut Hill and Old Orchard: Census-designated places inside larger towns, graded as part of them. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Easton’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 Easton: questions
What is the median household income in Easton?
$69,348 (±$6,783) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,971 across Pennsylvania and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Easton?
16.3%, against 11.7% across Pennsylvania and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Easton?
28 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Pennsylvania and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Easton work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Bethlehem (7%, 9 mi), Palmer Township (6%, 2 mi), Allentown (5%, 15 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Easton walkable?
Easton is more walkable than 96% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 15.3 out of 20, and 8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Easton without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. 86% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Easton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Easton
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.