Photo: Zeete · CC BY-SA 4.0Most of Palmerton commutes out: there are 0.5 jobs for every working resident
Jobs and income earn Palmerton B; getting around on foot earns it A−. Palmerton has 1,503 jobs, and 2,844 of its residents work somewhere. 5% of workers work from home, next to 16% for Pennsylvania as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Palmerton apart
Income, poverty and work: Palmerton’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Palmerton is better than 56% of U.S. towns, #629 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Unemployment holds Palmerton’s grade up (1.8%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down (15.9%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on job access by car.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Palmerton could be anywhere from C to A−.
6% of working residents work in Allentown
Where Palmerton clocks in
6% 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.
The daily commute in and out of Palmerton
On a workday 2,580 residents head out to work, 264 work right here, and 1,239 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,300 people are in Palmerton on a workday afternoon, 24% 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 2024, primary jobs.
The kinds of work in Palmerton
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Palmerton, 2014 → 2024: 1,971 → 1,503. 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 Palmerton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 30 minutes in Palmerton
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Palmerton workers work from home, vs 16% across Pennsylvania. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,893 commuters (the 5% 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 Palmerton’s workers travel
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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Palmerton 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, Palmerton is more walkable than 85% of U.S. towns, #269 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Both inputs place Palmerton 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 3,053 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). 19.1% of Palmerton households have no vehicle (Pennsylvania 10.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Palmerton’s commuters take a bus or train.
Palmerton is 1,707th of 3,561 U.S. towns of 3,900 to 7,600 on jobs and income
| # | 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 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | West Vincent Township PA | 6,885 | $203K | 1.4% | 0.8% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 29 | Edgmont Township PA | 4,706 | $137K | 2.4% | 1.1% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 63 | Pocopson Township PA | 4,480 | $230K | 1.3% | 2.2% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,705 | Edgartown MA | 5,446 | $125K | 4.7% | 5.4% | 31% | B |
| 1,706 | Paradise Hills NM | 4,591 | $73K | 11.1% | 4.3% | 1% | B |
| 1,707 | Palmerton PA | 5,615 | $68K | 15.9% | 1.8% | 9% | B |
| 1,708 | Chelan WA | 4,494 | $83K | 8.4% | 1.6% | 33% | B |
| 1,709 | West Monroe NY | 4,090 | $91K | 5.9% | 5.5% | 5% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 3,561 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 19% | 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 Palmerton, the top three, the last and three more from Pennsylvania.
Around Palmerton: the bordering towns
The biggest share goes to Lower Towamensing Township (4%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Palmerton workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Palmerton | – | B | A− | 30 min | $68,143 |
| Lower Towamensing Township | 4% | B | C+ | 35 min | $68,789 |
| East Penn Township | under 3% | C+ | D | 41 min | $70,294 |
| Bowmanstown | under 3% | — | — | 28 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Bowmanstown: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Palmerton’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 Palmerton: questions
What is the median household income in Palmerton?
$68,143 (±$16,780) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,971 across Pennsylvania and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Palmerton?
15.9%, against 11.7% across Pennsylvania and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Palmerton?
30 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Pennsylvania and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Palmerton work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Allentown (6%, 16 mi), Upper Macungie Township (5%, 16 mi), Lower Towamensing Township (4%, 2 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Palmerton walkable?
Palmerton is more walkable than 85% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.8 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Palmerton without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 19% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Palmerton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Palmerton
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.