Photo: MattMauler · CC BY-SA 3.0Most of Middletown commutes out: there are 0.5 jobs for every working resident
Measured by household income, Middletown is behind 80% of U.S. towns. 1,985 jobs are based in Middletown, and 4,131 of its residents work somewhere. Jobs and income earn Middletown B−; getting around on foot earns it A.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Middletown apart
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Middletown
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Middletown is better than 54% of U.S. towns, #641 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Job access by car holds Middletown’s grade up (ahead of 82% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($55,765, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Middletown could be anywhere from C+ to B+.
The kinds of work in Middletown
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Middletown, 2013 → 2023: 1,882 → 1,985. 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 Middletown’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A workday in Middletown: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 3,951 residents head out to work, 180 work right here, and 1,805 people come in from elsewhere.
About 7,600 people are in Middletown on a workday afternoon, 22% 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.
12% of working residents work in Derry Township
Where Middletown clocks in
12% of workers
9% 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.
Time on the road from Middletown: about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Middletown workers work from home, vs 16% across Pennsylvania. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,015 commuters (the 8% 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 Middletown goes to work
About 17% 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.
In Middletown, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Middletown is more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns, #167 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 4.8% 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 5,432 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 48% 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). 7.7% of Middletown households have no vehicle (Pennsylvania 10.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Middletown’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Middletown is 1,543rd of 2,800 U.S. towns of 6,800 to 13,200
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | West Vincent Township PA | 6,885 | $203K | 1.4% | 0.8% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 49 | Bethel Township PA | 9,774 | $177K | 1.8% | 2.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 54 | Upper Nazareth Township PA | 8,521 | $122K | 1.2% | 0.9% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,541 | Grover Beach CA | 12,456 | $86K | 11.8% | 4.3% | 7% | B− |
| 1,542 | Joshua TX | 9,352 | $68K | 19.2% | 2.7% | 6% | B− |
| 1,543 | Middletown PA | 9,776 | $56K | 12.4% | 2.9% | 4% | B− |
| 1,544 | Wells ME | 12,094 | $88K | 6.8% | 6.2% | 18% | B− |
| 1,545 | Townsend MA | 9,143 | $122K | 8.9% | 7.2% | 8% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,800 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Middletown, the top three, the last and three more from Pennsylvania.
The towns around Middletown
The biggest share goes to Lower Swatara Township (9%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Middletown workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Middletown | – | B− | A | 22 min | $55,765 |
| Lower Swatara Township | 9% | A− | B+ | 22 min | $87,163 |
| Londonderry Township | under 2% | A | B | 24 min | $91,905 |
| Royalton | under 2% | B− | A | 23 min | $67,500 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Middletown’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 Middletown: questions
What is the median household income in Middletown?
$55,765 (±$5,373) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,971 across Pennsylvania and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Middletown?
12.4%, against 11.7% across Pennsylvania and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Middletown?
22 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Pennsylvania and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Middletown work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Derry Township (12%, 6 mi), Lower Swatara Township (9%, 2 mi), Harrisburg (8%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Middletown walkable?
Middletown is more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 14.5 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Middletown without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. 48% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Middletown, from the people who make the trip.
More of Middletown
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.