Photo: Mvincec · Public domainHouseholds in Mars earn less than those in 87% of U.S. towns
10.0% of residents live below the poverty line, against 11.7% across Pennsylvania. The two grades for Mars are B− for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. Working from home is the commute for 6% of workers, where Pennsylvania as a whole has 16%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Inside Mars’ Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Mars is better than 45% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Mars’ grade up (ahead of 77% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($50,938, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (1.0%) is left out: Mars’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Mars could be anywhere from C to A−.
Mars on a workday afternoon
On a workday 624 residents head out to work, 12 work right here, and 579 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 (0.93 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.
13% of working residents work in Pittsburgh
Where Mars clocks in
13% of workers
10% of workers
8% 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 work there is in Mars: 591 jobs
591 jobs are based in Mars.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Mars, 2013 → 2023: 637 → 591. 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 Mars’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Mars spends getting to work: about 25 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Mars workers work from home, vs 16% across Pennsylvania. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 557 commuters (the 6% 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 many miles Mars commutes
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.
Mars is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Mars is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.0% of 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 594 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). 20.8% of Mars households have no vehicle (Pennsylvania 10.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Mars’ commuters take a bus or train.
Mars places 2,317th of 5,877 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 1,000 to 1,900
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 12 | Bryn Athyn PA | 1,304 | $143K | 0.3% | 2.6% | 16% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 17 | Rose Valley PA | 1,017 | $247K | 2.9% | 1.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 34 | Bradford Woods PA | 1,126 | $153K | 1.9% | 1.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,315 | Paris Township OH | 1,661 | $80K | 13.2% | 2.2% | 1% | B− |
| 2,316 | St. Michaels MD | 1,083 | $78K | 5.8% | 7.6% | 11% | B− |
| 2,317 | Mars PA | 1,391 | $51K | 10.0% | 1.0% | 2% | B− |
| 2,318 | Parker SD | 1,349 | $90K | 11.1% | 2.8% | 7% | B− |
| 2,319 | Wyoming Township IL | 1,212 | $69K | 7.6% | 5.9% | 3% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,877 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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 Mars, the top three, the last and three more from Pennsylvania.
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 Mars: questions
What is the median household income in Mars?
$50,938 (±$26,791) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,971 across Pennsylvania and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Mars?
10.0%, against 11.7% across Pennsylvania and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Mars?
25 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Pennsylvania and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Mars work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Pittsburgh (13%, 18 mi), Cranberry Township (10%, 5 mi), Adams Township (8%, 2 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Mars walkable?
Mars is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 9.2 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Mars without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 21% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Mars, from the people who make the trip.
More of Mars
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.