Christiana Lindsey House · Photo: Nyttend · Public domainHousehold incomes in Mercer are lower than in 91% of U.S. towns
About one in ten stay in Mercer for work; outside it, Pine Township is the main destination (7%, 10 miles). 16.3% of residents live below the poverty line, against 11.7% across Pennsylvania. Jobs and income earn Mercer C−; getting around on foot earns it B+.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Mercer, in brief
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Mercer
On income, poverty and job access, Mercer is better than 22% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Mercer’s grade up (ahead of 57% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($47,054, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (8.0%) is left out: Mercer’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, Mercer could be anywhere from D to C+.
The daily flow of workers through Mercer
On a workday 595 residents head out to work, 58 work right here, and 1,206 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,500 people are in Mercer on a workday afternoon, 32% more than live here.
1.9 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
The daily trip into Mercer
Where Mercer clocks in
7% 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.
Jobs in Mercer: what the 1,264 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Mercer, 2013 → 2023: 1,438 → 1,264. 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 Mercer’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 23 minutes to work from Mercer
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Mercer workers work from home, vs 16% across Pennsylvania. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 706 commuters (the 11% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Mercer
About 23% 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.
Few in Mercer walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Mercer is more walkable than 69% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.6% 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 795 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). 7.4% of Mercer households have no vehicle (Pennsylvania 10.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Mercer’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,600, Mercer ranks 4,147th of 5,921 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,145 | Watkins Glen NY | 1,716 | $50K | 10.9% | 8.2% | 19% | C− |
| 4,146 | Bremen OH | 1,528 | $61K | 15.7% | 5.0% | 3% | C− |
| 4,147 | Mercer PA | 1,905 | $47K | 16.3% | 8.0% | 9% | C− |
| 4,148 | Ingram TX | 1,846 | $45K | 21.1% | 2.7% | 6% | C− |
| 4,149 | Shell Lake WI | 1,414 | $58K | 8.9% | 0.5% | 14% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,921 | 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 Mercer, the top three, the last and three more from Pennsylvania.
Work in the towns next to Mercer
The biggest share goes to East Lackawannock Township (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Mercer workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mercer | – | C− | B+ | 23 min | $47,054 |
| Coolspring Township | 2% | B− | C− | 28 min | $87,750 |
| East Lackawannock Township | 3% | B+ | C | 25 min | $79,643 |
| Findley Township | 2% | B | C− | 22 min | $90,950 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Mercer’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 Mercer: questions
What is the median household income in Mercer?
$47,054 (±$6,735) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,971 across Pennsylvania and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Mercer?
16.3%, against 11.7% across Pennsylvania and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Mercer?
23 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Pennsylvania and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Mercer work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Pine Township (7%, 10 mi), Grove City (6%, 9 mi), Hermitage (5%, 11 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Mercer walkable?
Mercer is more walkable than 69% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 11.5 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Mercer without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Mercer, from the people who make the trip.
More of Mercer
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.