Exeter has lower household incomes than 77% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Exeter C; getting around on foot earns it A. Below the poverty line: 11.1% of residents, against 11.7% across Pennsylvania. Working from home is the commute for 8% of workers (Pennsylvania 16%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Exeter, in brief
Inside Exeter’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Exeter is better than 34% of U.S. towns, #834 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Job access by car holds Exeter’s grade up (ahead of 65% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($57,639, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Exeter could be anywhere from C− to B+.
How far it is to work from Exeter
About 20% 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.
Exeter by day and by night
On a workday 2,254 residents head out to work, 157 work right here, and 1,647 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,000 people are in Exeter on a workday afternoon, 11% fewer than live here.
0.75 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.
12% of working residents work in Wilkes-Barre
Where Exeter clocks in
12% 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.
The 1,804 jobs based in Exeter
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Exeter, 2013 → 2023: 1,901 → 1,804. 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 Exeter’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Exeter spends getting to work: about 23 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 Exeter workers work from home, vs 16% across Pennsylvania. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,989 commuters (the 8% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Exeter
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Exeter is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns, #257 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 8.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 8.6% across Pennsylvania, on an EPA index of 8.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,154 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). 10.8% of Exeter households have no vehicle (Pennsylvania 10.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Exeter’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Exeter is 2,446th of 3,502 U.S. towns of 3,900 to 7,500
| # | 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 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | West Vincent Township PA | 6,885 | $203K | 1.4% | 0.8% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 29 | Edgmont Township PA | 4,706 | $137K | 2.4% | 1.1% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 63 | Pocopson Township PA | 4,480 | $230K | 1.3% | 2.2% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,444 | Gardiner ME | 6,206 | $72K | 10.5% | 7.5% | 14% | C |
| 2,445 | Wheelersburg OH | 6,313 | $63K | 11.4% | 4.0% | 12% | C |
| 2,446 | Exeter PA | 5,587 | $58K | 11.1% | 6.1% | 7% | C |
| 2,447 | Farmington NH | 6,781 | $67K | 11.3% | 4.3% | 8% | C |
| 2,448 | Hector NY | 4,733 | $80K | 15.6% | 3.6% | 10% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 3,502 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Exeter, the top three, the last and three more from Pennsylvania.
How Exeter compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Jenkins Township (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Exeter workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exeter | – | C | A | 23 min | $57,639 |
| West Pittston | 2% | B | A− | 17 min | $63,706 |
| Exeter Township | under 3% | C+ | D− | 29 min | $82,621 |
| Pittston | under 3% | C− | A− | 23 min | $49,941 |
| Duryea | 2% | B− | C+ | 26 min | $62,462 |
| Jenkins Township | 3% | C+ | C | 19 min | $54,878 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Exeter’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 Exeter: questions
What is the median household income in Exeter?
$57,639 (±$16,461) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,971 across Pennsylvania and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Exeter?
11.1%, against 11.7% across Pennsylvania and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Exeter?
23 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Pennsylvania and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Exeter work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Wilkes-Barre (12%, 6 mi), Scranton (6%, 10 mi), Plains Township (6%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Exeter walkable?
Exeter is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.2 out of 20, and 8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Exeter without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Exeter, from the people who make the trip.
More of Exeter
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.