Photo: Doug Kerr · CC BY-SA 2.0Montrose has 1.5 jobs for every working resident: 782 people commute in to work
Jobs & income D: better than 8% of U.S. towns on income, poverty and job access.
Walkability A: more walkable than 95% of U.S. towns.
Household incomes here are lower than in 84% of U.S. towns. Working residents average 21 minutes each way (Pennsylvania 26, U.S. 26). About one in ten work in Montrose; the top destination outside it is Bridgewater Township (21%, 1 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The short version on getting to work from Montrose
Fewer jobs are based in Montrose than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Montrose fell from 1,955 in 2013 to 829 in 2023, −58%. 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 ↓
Montrose is where the jobs are
Montrose has 829 jobs, 1.6 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Montrose and Bridgewater Township trade workers both ways
Bridgewater Township is the top workplace for Montrose residents (21%) and also where the most people who work in Montrose come from (14% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
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 536 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Montrose’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Montrose is better than 8% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Montrose’s grade up (ahead of 29% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (24.6%, U.S. 12.5%).
Unemployment (5.5%) is left out: Montrose’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, Montrose could be anywhere from D− to C−.
What the 829 jobs in Montrose are
829 jobs are based in Montrose. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Montrose’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Montrose, 2013 → 2023: 1,955 → 829. 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.
Montrose fills up on a workday
On a workday 489 residents head out to work, 47 work right here, and 782 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,600 people are in Montrose on a workday afternoon, 23% more than live here.
1.5 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.
Where Montrose’s workers come from
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Montrose clocks in
21% of workers
4% of workers
3% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
About 21 minutes each way, quicker than most of Pennsylvania
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Montrose workers work from home, vs 16% across Pennsylvania. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 594 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.
Half of Montrose commutes less than 18 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
About 25% 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.
Montrose is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Montrose is more walkable than 95% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Montrose 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 668 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). 11.6% of Montrose households have no vehicle (Pennsylvania 10.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Montrose’s commuters take a bus or train.
Montrose is 4,142nd of 4,866 U.S. towns of 900 to 1,700 on jobs and income
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Montrose, the top three, the last and three more from Pennsylvania.
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | Bryn Athyn PA | 1,304 | $143K | 0.3% | 2.6% | 16% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | Rose Valley PA | 1,017 | $247K | 2.9% | 1.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 30 | Bradford Woods PA | 1,126 | $153K | 1.9% | 1.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,140 | Brokenstraw Township PA | 1,654 | $50K | 14.7% | 4.2% | 14% | D |
| 4,141 | Farmland IN | 1,265 | $41K | 22.4% | 4.2% | 2% | D |
| 4,142 | Montrose PA | 1,275 | $53K | 24.6% | 5.5% | 9% | D |
| 4,143 | Pine River Township MN | 1,240 | $58K | 15.5% | 7.3% | 2% | D |
| 4,144 | Greig NY | 1,195 | $58K | 14.8% | 5.8% | 1% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,866 | 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.
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 Montrose: questions
What is the median household income in Montrose?
$53,269 (±$11,935) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,971 across Pennsylvania and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Montrose?
24.6%, against 11.7% across Pennsylvania and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Montrose?
21 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Pennsylvania and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Montrose work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Bridgewater Township (21%, 1 mi), Binghamton (4%, 19 mi), Scranton (3%, 32 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Montrose walkable?
Montrose is more walkable than 95% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 10.3 out of 20, and 15% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Montrose without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Montrose, from the people who make the trip.
More of Montrose
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.