Making a living in Penn Township
Only 7% work in Penn Township; the top destination outside it is College Township (11%, 18 miles). Jobs and income earn Penn Township C; getting around on foot earns it B+. 8% of workers have no commute at all (Pennsylvania 16%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Penn Township apart
Income, poverty and work: Penn Township’s grade explained
On income, poverty and job access, Penn Township is better than 30% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Penn Township’s grade up (8.3%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 10% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (4.9%) is left out: Penn Township’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Penn Township could be anywhere from D to B−.
About 38 minutes each way, longer than most of Pennsylvania
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 12.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Penn Township workers work from home, vs 16% across Pennsylvania. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 409 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.
Penn Township on a workday afternoon
On a workday 401 residents head out to work, 32 work right here, and 332 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 (0.84 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.
Where people from Penn Township work
Where Penn Township clocks in
11% of workers
6% 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.
Inside Penn Township’s 364 jobs
364 jobs are based in Penn Township.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Penn Township, 2014 → 2024: 340 → 364. 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 Penn Township’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Short hops and long hauls from Penn Township
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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Driving is how Penn Township gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Penn Township is more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 8.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 8.6% across Pennsylvania, on an EPA index of 6.5.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 445 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). 10.8% of Penn Township households have no vehicle (Pennsylvania 10.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Penn Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
Penn Township places 2,395th of 4,312 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 800 to 1,600
| # | 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% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 8 | Bryn Athyn PA | 1,304 | $143K | 0.3% | 2.6% | 17% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | Rose Valley PA | 1,017 | $247K | 2.9% | 1.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 27 | Bradford Woods PA | 1,126 | $153K | 1.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,393 | Brighton NY | 1,167 | $66K | 6.8% | 7.0% | 5% | C |
| 2,394 | Wills Township OH | 1,519 | $65K | 8.4% | 11.6% | 3% | C |
| 2,395 | Penn Township PA | 1,194 | $70K | 8.3% | 4.9% | 7% | C |
| 2,396 | Danby VT | 1,273 | $77K | 9.4% | 2.3% | 8% | C |
| 2,397 | Worcester WI | 1,546 | $68K | 7.0% | 2.5% | 4% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 4,312 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 1% | 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 Penn Township, the top three, the last and three more from Pennsylvania.
15% of Penn Township works in a bordering town
The biggest share goes to Millheim (6%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Penn Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Penn Township | – | C | B+ | 38 min | $69,550 |
| Millheim | 6% | — | — | 26 min | — |
| Gregg Township | 3% | B− | B | 29 min | $67,292 |
| Haines Township | 3% | C− | B− | 31 min | $76,667 |
| Miles Township | 3% | B− | C+ | 28 min | $71,544 |
Same-state neighbors only. Millheim: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Penn Township’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 Penn Township: questions
What is the median household income in Penn Township?
$69,550 (±$5,940) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,971 across Pennsylvania and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Penn Township?
8.3%, against 11.7% across Pennsylvania and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Penn Township?
38 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Pennsylvania and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Penn Township work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are College Township (11%, 18 mi), State College (6%, 20 mi), Millheim (6%, 2 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Penn Township walkable?
Penn Township is more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 6.5 out of 20, and 8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Penn Township without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Penn Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of Penn Township
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.