Hotel Lykens · Photo: JERRYE & ROY KLOTZ, M.D. · CC BY-SA 4.0Most of Lykens commutes out: there are 0.3 jobs for every working resident
There are 221 jobs in Lykens for 761 working residents. The two grades for Lykens are C− for jobs and income and A for walkability. Only 5% work in Lykens; the top destination outside it is Washington Township (10%, 6 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Lykens apart
Lykens is a place people come home to
There are 221 jobs based in Lykens, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Lykens has about 1,300 people in it, 29% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Lykens than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Lykens fell from 339 in 2013 to 221 in 2023, −35%. 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 ↓
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 761 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where Lykens’ Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty and job access, Lykens is better than 18% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Lykens’ grade up ($73,318, U.S. $80,734); the poverty rate pulls it down (23.0%, U.S. 12.5%).
Unemployment (3.7%) is left out: Lykens’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, Lykens could be anywhere from D to C+.
The daily commute in and out of Lykens
On a workday 720 residents head out to work, 41 work right here, and 180 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,300 people are in Lykens on a workday afternoon, 29% 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.
Jobs in Lykens: what the 221 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lykens, 2013 → 2023: 339 → 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 Lykens’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The towns that employ Lykens’ residents
Where Lykens clocks in
10% of workers
6% of workers
5% 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.
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 Lykens workers work from home, vs 16% across Pennsylvania. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 696 commuters (the 19% 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 Lykens
About 15% 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.
Lykens is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Lykens is more walkable than 91% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Lykens 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 861 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 13.6% of Lykens households have no vehicle (Pennsylvania 10.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Lykens’ commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Lykens is 4,166th among 5,656 U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,500
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 12 | Bryn Athyn PA | 1,304 | $143K | 0.3% | 2.6% | 16% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 35 | Newtown PA | 2,257 | $166K | 2.0% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 36 | Edgeworth PA | 1,611 | $203K | 3.0% | 3.9% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,164 | Colfax CA | 2,043 | $73K | 13.1% | 10.6% | 5% | C− |
| 4,165 | Jonesboro IN | 1,510 | $46K | 16.3% | 7.7% | 1% | C− |
| 4,166 | Lykens PA | 1,856 | $73K | 23.0% | 3.7% | 5% | C− |
| 4,167 | New Market VA | 2,222 | $51K | 11.1% | 6.5% | 9% | C− |
| 4,168 | Dick Johnson Township IN | 1,321 | $63K | 18.1% | 0.0% | <1% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,656 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | 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 Lykens, the top three, the last and three more from Pennsylvania.
The towns around Lykens
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Lykens workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lykens | – | C− | A | 30 min | $73,318 |
| Wiconisco Township | under 2% | C+ | C+ | 27 min | $68,438 |
| Wiconsico | under 2% | — | — | 28 min | — |
| Jackson Township | under 2% | B− | D− | 32 min | $95,515 |
Same-state neighbors only. Wiconsico: a Census-designated place inside a larger town, graded as part of it. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Lykens’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 Lykens: questions
What is the median household income in Lykens?
$73,318 (±$16,251) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,971 across Pennsylvania and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lykens?
23.0%, against 11.7% across Pennsylvania and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lykens?
30 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Pennsylvania and 26 nationally. 19% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lykens work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Washington Township (10%, 6 mi), Harrisburg (6%, 22 mi), Upper Paxton Township (5%, 12 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lykens walkable?
Lykens is more walkable than 91% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 10.0 out of 20, and 8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lykens without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 14% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lykens, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lykens
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.