Photo: Acroterion · CC BY-SA 4.0Work, pay and getting to work in Fairfield
8% of workers have no commute at all, where Pennsylvania as a whole has 16%. Only 4% stay in Fairfield for work; outside it, Gettysburg is the main destination (7%, 8 miles). Working residents average 32 minutes each way (Pennsylvania 26, U.S. 26).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Fairfield: the gist
Fairfield makes and builds things
72% of the jobs based in Fairfield are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Fairfield residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 26%. The jobs ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Fairfield than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Fairfield fell from 542 in 2013 to 371 in 2023, −32%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
Fairfield workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 32 minutes each way, against 26 across Pennsylvania. Over a year that’s about 245 hours of commuting, 46 more than the state’s typical 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; with 238 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Goods jobs make up 72% of work in Fairfield
371 jobs are based in Fairfield.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fairfield, 2013 → 2023: 542 → 371. 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 Fairfield’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 32 minutes each way, longer than most of Pennsylvania
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fairfield workers work from home, vs 16% across Pennsylvania. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 181 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.
Fairfield by day and by night
On a workday 229 residents head out to work, 9 work right here, and 362 people come in from elsewhere.
About 680 people are in Fairfield on a workday afternoon, 25% more than live here.
1.6 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.
The daily trip into Fairfield
Where Fairfield clocks in
7% 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.
Where in the region Fairfield works
About 16% 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.
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 Fairfield: questions
What is the median household income in Fairfield?
$55,774 (±$7,816) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,971 across Pennsylvania and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fairfield?
22.1%, against 11.7% across Pennsylvania and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fairfield?
32 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Pennsylvania and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fairfield work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Gettysburg (7%, 8 mi), Hamiltonban Township (7%, 3 mi), Cumberland Township (5%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Fairfield without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Fairfield, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fairfield
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.