Photo: Original uploader was Jgera5 at en.wikipedia · Public domainHouseholds in New Castle earn less than those in 95% of U.S. towns
About one in four stay in New Castle for work; outside it, Neshannock Township is the main destination (8%, 4 miles). Below the poverty line: 28.0% of residents, next to 11.7% for Pennsylvania as a whole. New Castle grades D for jobs and income and A− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
New Castle at work: what stands out
How New Castle earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, New Castle is better than 10% of U.S. towns, #1,014 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Job access by car holds New Castle’s grade up (ahead of 67% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (12.5%, U.S. 5.2%).
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, New Castle stays D.
Who commutes out of New Castle, and who commutes in
On a workday 6,408 residents head out to work, 2,004 work right here, and 6,628 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 (1.03 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
The places New Castle commutes to
Where New Castle clocks in
8% of workers
5% of workers
4% 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 New Castle: what the 8,632 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in New Castle, 2014 → 2024: 9,820 → 8,632. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs New Castle’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting from New Castle: about 22 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of New Castle workers work from home, vs 16% across Pennsylvania. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 6,977 commuters (the 12% 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.
Miles to work from New Castle
About 15% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
In New Castle, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, New Castle is more walkable than 77% of U.S. towns, #346 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Both inputs place New Castle 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 7,912 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). 16.7% of New Castle households have no vehicle (Pennsylvania 10.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of New Castle’s commuters take a bus or train.
New Castle next to U.S. towns of 15,000 to 29,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Wolf Trap VA | 15,858 | $250K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 7 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | West Whiteland Township PA | 20,826 | $133K | 3.0% | 1.7% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 33 | South Fayette Township PA | 18,648 | $124K | 3.6% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,740 | Albemarle NC | 17,769 | $47K | 24.9% | 5.6% | 22% | D |
| 1,741 | Coalinga CA | 17,281 | $75K | 21.7% | 11.4% | 35% | D |
| 1,742 | New Castle PA | 21,175 | $42K | 28.0% | 12.5% | 24% | D |
| 1,743 | El Dorado AR | 16,609 | $49K | 23.3% | 7.0% | 47% | D |
| 1,744 | Corcoran CA | 22,358 | $60K | 20.7% | 11.1% | 20% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 1,787 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 28% | 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 New Castle, the top three, the last and three more from Pennsylvania.
The towns next door employ 14% of New Castle
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | New Castle workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Castle | – | D | A− | 22 min | $42,219 |
| Taylor Township | under 1% | — | — | 22 min | — |
| Shenango Township | 4% | A− | C | 24 min | $77,522 |
| Oakland | under 1% | — | — | 17 min | — |
| North Beaver Township | under 1% | B− | C− | 22 min | $70,828 |
| Neshannock Township | 8% | A− | C+ | 23 min | $83,115 |
| Union Township | 2% | B+ | B+ | 17 min | $64,826 |
| Hickory Township | under 1% | B+ | C+ | 24 min | $74,478 |
| Oakwood | under 1% | — | — | 20 min | — |
| New Castle Northwest | under 1% | — | — | 19 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Taylor Township: not graded. Oakland, Oakwood and New Castle Northwest: Census-designated places inside larger towns, graded as part of them. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Neshannock Township. Darker towns draw more of New Castle’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 2024, 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 New Castle: questions
What is the median household income in New Castle?
$42,219 (±$4,138) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,971 across Pennsylvania and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in New Castle?
28.0%, against 11.7% across Pennsylvania and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from New Castle?
22 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Pennsylvania and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in New Castle work?
24% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Neshannock Township (8%, 4 mi), Pittsburgh (5%, 43 mi), Shenango Township (4%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is New Castle walkable?
New Castle is more walkable than 77% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.8 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around New Castle without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 17% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from New Castle, from the people who make the trip.
More of New Castle
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.