Photo: Mlouns · CC BY-SA 3.0Most of Monessen commutes out: there are 0.5 jobs for every working resident
There are 1,463 jobs in Monessen, against 2,777 working residents. The two grades for Monessen are C− for jobs and income and A− for walkability. Measured by household income, Monessen is behind 84% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The figures behind Monessen’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Monessen is better than 22% of U.S. towns, #937 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Job access by car holds Monessen’s grade up (ahead of 64% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (20.8%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Monessen could be anywhere from D to C+.
Monessen by day and by night
On a workday 2,531 residents head out to work, 246 work right here, and 1,217 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,300 people are in Monessen on a workday afternoon, 20% 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.
11% of working residents work in Pittsburgh
Where Monessen clocks in
11% 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.
What Monessen’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Monessen, 2013 → 2023: 1,482 → 1,463. 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 Monessen’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Time on the road from Monessen: about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Monessen workers work from home, vs 16% across Pennsylvania. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,547 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.
How far it is to work from Monessen
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.
Monessen is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,857 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). 10.2% of Monessen households have no vehicle (Pennsylvania 10.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of Monessen’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Monessen ranks: 2,643rd of 3,201 U.S. towns of 4,700 to 9,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Norwood NJ | 5,817 | $178K | 2.8% | 0.9% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | West Vincent Township PA | 6,885 | $203K | 1.4% | 0.8% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 28 | Edgmont Township PA | 4,706 | $137K | 2.4% | 1.1% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 63 | Upper Nazareth Township PA | 8,521 | $122K | 1.2% | 0.9% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,641 | Cocoa West FL | 5,923 | $34K | 34.1% | 3.5% | 2% | C− |
| 2,642 | Metropolis IL | 5,727 | $50K | 17.6% | 2.6% | 28% | C− |
| 2,643 | Monessen PA | 6,657 | $53K | 20.8% | 6.0% | 9% | C− |
| 2,644 | Sandy Oaks TX | 5,874 | $51K | 16.7% | 9.1% | 1% | C− |
| 2,645 | University of California-Davis CA | 8,696 | $19K | 66.4% | 18.2% | 18% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,201 | 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 Monessen, the top three, the last and three more from Pennsylvania.
Monessen and its neighbors
The biggest share goes to Rostraver Township (5%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Monessen workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monessen | – | C− | A− | 24 min | $52,889 |
| Rostraver Township | 5% | B− | C+ | 29 min | $73,300 |
| Carroll Township | 3% | B− | B− | 30 min | $79,219 |
| Fallowfield Township | under 2% | C+ | D | 30 min | $66,802 |
| North Charleroi | under 2% | C | A | 23 min | $51,324 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Monessen’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 Monessen: questions
What is the median household income in Monessen?
$52,889 (±$10,061) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,971 across Pennsylvania and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Monessen?
20.8%, against 11.7% across Pennsylvania and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Monessen?
24 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Pennsylvania and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Monessen work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Pittsburgh (11%, 20 mi), Charleroi (6%, 1 mi), Rostraver Township (5%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Monessen walkable?
Monessen is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.3 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Monessen without a car?
3% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Monessen, from the people who make the trip.
More of Monessen
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.