Photo: Jakec · CC BY-SA 4.0Lake Township has 0.2 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
There are 221 jobs in Lake Township, against 963 working residents. Jobs and income earn Lake Township B−; getting around on foot earns it D. Only 4% stay in Lake Township for work; outside it, Wilkes-Barre is the main destination (11%, 13 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Lake Township: the figures worth knowing
Inside Lake Township’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Lake Township is better than 51% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Lake Township’s grade up ($88,229, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 32% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate.
Unemployment (4.1%) is left out: Lake Township’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, Lake Township could be anywhere from C− to B+.
The workday shuffle in and out of Lake Township
On a workday 927 residents head out to work, 36 work right here, and 185 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,300 people are in Lake Township on a workday afternoon, 36% 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 2023, primary jobs.
Where the trip to work from Lake Township ends
Where Lake Township clocks in
11% of workers
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.
What Lake Township’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lake Township, 2013 → 2023: 194 → 221. 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 Lake Township’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 30 minutes each way, longer than most of Pennsylvania
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lake Township workers work from home, vs 16% across Pennsylvania. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 779 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.
How far Lake Township’s workers travel
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.
For most of Lake Township, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Lake Township is more walkable than 12% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 8.6% across Pennsylvania.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 915 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). 1.9% of Lake Township households have no vehicle (Pennsylvania 10.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Lake Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
2,294th of 5,793: where Lake Township ranks among U.S. towns of 1,400 to 2,800
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 30 | Newtown PA | 2,257 | $166K | 2.0% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 31 | Edgeworth PA | 1,611 | $203K | 3.0% | 3.9% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 57 | West Conshohocken PA | 1,498 | $139K | 5.0% | 1.6% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,292 | Virgil NY | 2,375 | $91K | 7.1% | 4.9% | 3% | B− |
| 2,293 | Union Township OH | 2,609 | $69K | 5.0% | 3.3% | 9% | B− |
| 2,294 | Lake Township PA | 2,053 | $88K | 9.1% | 4.1% | 4% | B− |
| 2,295 | El Paso IL | 2,723 | $76K | 10.9% | 3.9% | 18% | B− |
| 2,296 | Mishicot WI | 1,428 | $65K | 7.2% | 1.3% | 4% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,793 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Lake Township, the top three, the last and three more from Pennsylvania.
The towns around Lake Township
The biggest share goes to Harveys Lake (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Lake Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Township | – | B− | D | 30 min | $88,229 |
| Harveys Lake | 2% | B− | C | 36 min | $75,510 |
| Ross Township | under 3% | C+ | D | 34 min | $87,697 |
| Lehman Township | 2% | B− | D | 30 min | $79,549 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Lake 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 Lake Township: questions
What is the median household income in Lake Township?
$88,229 (±$23,735) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,971 across Pennsylvania and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lake Township?
9.1%, against 11.7% across Pennsylvania and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lake Township?
30 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Pennsylvania and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lake Township work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Wilkes-Barre (11%, 13 mi), Dallas Township (7%, 7 mi), Plains Township (7%, 16 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lake Township walkable?
Lake Township is more walkable than 12% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 5.7 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lake Township without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lake Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lake 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.