Forest City has 0.6 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Employers in Forest City report 471 jobs, against 823 working residents. The two grades for Forest City are C− for jobs and income and A for walkability. Measured by household income, Forest City is behind 78% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Forest City: the figures worth knowing
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Forest City
On income, poverty and job access, Forest City is better than 16% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Forest City’s grade.
Unemployment (7.4%) is left out: Forest City’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Forest City could be anywhere from D to C+.
The workday shuffle in and out of Forest City
On a workday 757 residents head out to work, 66 work right here, and 405 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,400 people are in Forest City on a workday afternoon, 20% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
7% of working residents work in Scranton
Where Forest City clocks in
7% of workers
3% 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.
Jobs in Forest City: what the 471 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Forest City, 2014 → 2024: 501 → 471. 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 Forest City’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 23 minutes from Forest City
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Forest City workers work from home, vs 16% across Pennsylvania. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 663 commuters (the 12% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Forest City
About 27% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Forest City
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Forest City is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 10.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 8.6% across Pennsylvania, on an EPA index of 8.7.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 753 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). 10.5% of Forest City households have no vehicle (Pennsylvania 10.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Forest City’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 6,085 U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,400, Forest City comes 4,568th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 1% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 11 | Bryn Athyn PA | 1,304 | $143K | 0.3% | 2.6% | 17% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 37 | Newtown PA | 2,257 | $166K | 2.0% | 2.3% | 7% | A+ |
| 38 | Edgeworth PA | 1,611 | $203K | 3.0% | 3.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,566 | Springfield MN | 1,980 | $59K | 11.8% | 5.8% | 32% | C− |
| 4,567 | Tutwiler MS | 1,649 | $34K | 9.0% | 19.3% | 4% | C− |
| 4,568 | Forest City PA | 1,741 | $57K | 16.9% | 7.4% | 8% | C− |
| 4,569 | Johnsonburg PA | 2,291 | $61K | 12.3% | 7.0% | 16% | C− |
| 4,570 | Indian Creek Township IL | 2,055 | $59K | 10.4% | 6.8% | 14% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 6,085 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 7% | 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 Forest City, the top three, the last and three more from Pennsylvania.
Next door to Forest City
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Forest City workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forest City | – | C− | A | 23 min | $57,404 |
| Clinton Township | under 2% | C | C− | 26 min | $67,708 |
| Vandling | under 2% | — | — | 28 min | — |
| Clifford Township | under 2% | B− | D | 27 min | $84,559 |
Same-state neighbors only. Vandling: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Forest City’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 Forest City: questions
What is the median household income in Forest City?
$57,404 (±$11,815) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,971 across Pennsylvania and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Forest City?
16.9%, against 11.7% across Pennsylvania and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Forest City?
23 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Pennsylvania and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Forest City work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Scranton (7%, 20 mi), Carbondale (6%, 6 mi), Fell Township (3%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Forest City walkable?
Forest City is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.7 out of 20, and 10% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Forest City without a car?
0% 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 Forest City, from the people who make the trip.
More of Forest City
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.