Households in Lehighton have lower incomes than those in 66% of U.S. towns
Working from home is the commute for 4% of workers, where Pennsylvania as a whole has 16%. Below the poverty line: 12.9% of residents (Pennsylvania 11.7%). The two grades for Lehighton are C+ for jobs and income and A for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Lehighton
Lehighton trades workers with the towns around it
Lehighton has about as many jobs (2,392) as working residents (2,301), but they are mostly different people: 2,063 residents leave for work each day while 2,154 people come in. Only 10% of the jobs in Lehighton are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
No single place dominates Lehighton’s commute
The biggest draw, Allentown, gets only 6% of working residents, and 60% work outside the top ten towns entirely. Lehighton residents fan out across the region. The commute map ↓
Few Lehighton workers work from home
Only 4% of workers work from home, against 16% across Pennsylvania. Almost everyone here travels to a job. 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.
The figures behind Lehighton’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Lehighton is better than 44% of U.S. towns, #740 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Job access by car holds Lehighton’s grade up (ahead of 65% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($64,651, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on unemployment.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Lehighton could be anywhere from C− to A−.
The daily commute in and out of Lehighton
On a workday 2,063 residents head out to work, 238 work right here, and 2,154 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.04 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
6% of working residents work in Allentown
Where Lehighton clocks in
6% of workers
4% 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.
A commute of about 25 minutes in Lehighton
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lehighton workers work from home, vs 16% across Pennsylvania. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,391 commuters (the 4% 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.
Mostly health care, schools and offices in Lehighton
2,392 jobs are based in Lehighton.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lehighton, 2013 → 2023: 2,459 → 2,392. 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 Lehighton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far it is to work from Lehighton
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 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Lehighton 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, Lehighton is more walkable than 85% of U.S. towns, #262 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Both inputs place Lehighton 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 2,481 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). 6.4% of Lehighton households have no vehicle (Pennsylvania 10.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Lehighton’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 3,700 to 7,100, Lehighton ranks 2,149th of 3,582 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 30 | Wallace Township PA | 3,759 | $183K | 1.9% | 0.0% | 3% | A+ |
| 31 | West Vincent Township PA | 6,885 | $203K | 1.4% | 0.8% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 35 | Edgmont Township PA | 4,706 | $137K | 2.4% | 1.1% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,147 | Amsterdam NY | 5,954 | $84K | 8.4% | 7.1% | 8% | C+ |
| 2,148 | Woodstock NY | 6,215 | $92K | 9.5% | 5.3% | 17% | C+ |
| 2,149 | Lehighton PA | 5,232 | $65K | 12.9% | 4.2% | 10% | C+ |
| 2,150 | Macon MO | 5,532 | $62K | 10.5% | 1.8% | 43% | C+ |
| 2,151 | Kingston TN | 6,299 | $72K | 7.1% | 8.1% | 8% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,582 | 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 Lehighton, the top three, the last and three more from Pennsylvania.
Lehighton and the towns next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Lehighton workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lehighton | – | C+ | A | 25 min | $64,651 |
| Mahoning Township | 4% | B+ | C | 31 min | $71,881 |
| Franklin Township | 4% | B− | C+ | 32 min | $88,924 |
| Weissport | under 3% | — | — | 26 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Weissport: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Mahoning Township. Darker towns draw more of Lehighton’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 Lehighton: questions
What is the median household income in Lehighton?
$64,651 (±$23,488) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,971 across Pennsylvania and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lehighton?
12.9%, against 11.7% across Pennsylvania and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lehighton?
25 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Pennsylvania and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lehighton work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Allentown (6%, 20 mi), Mahoning Township (4%, 3 mi), Franklin Township (4%, 3 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lehighton walkable?
Lehighton is more walkable than 85% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 10.6 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lehighton without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lehighton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lehighton
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.