Photo: Marduk · Public domainMost of Penndel commutes out: there are 0.5 jobs for every working resident
654 jobs are based in Penndel for 1,291 working residents. The two grades for Penndel are B+ for jobs and income and A+ for walkability. For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 6.3 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 37.7 in Philadelphia.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Penndel and work: the main findings
Short distances, slow trips
Half of Penndel’s working residents have a job less than 9 miles away, yet the average commute still takes 28 minutes, longer than the Pennsylvania average of 26. Time on the road ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Penndel than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Penndel fell from 1,011 in 2013 to 654 in 2023, −35%. 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 ↓
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.
Why Penndel gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Penndel is better than 70% of U.S. towns, #462 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Job access by car holds Penndel’s grade up (ahead of 95% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (11.8%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on household income and unemployment.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Penndel could be anywhere from C+ to A+.
About 28 minutes to work from Penndel
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Penndel workers work from home, vs 16% across Pennsylvania. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,342 commuters (the 9% 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.
What Penndel’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Penndel, 2013 → 2023: 1,011 → 654. 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 Penndel’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily flow of workers through Penndel
On a workday 1,239 residents head out to work, 52 work right here, and 602 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,900 people are in Penndel on a workday afternoon, 25% 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.
13% of working residents work in Philadelphia
Where Penndel clocks in
13% of workers
10% of workers
7% 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 commute from Penndel, by distance
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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Penndel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Penndel is more walkable than 97% of U.S. towns, #62 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Both inputs place Penndel 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 1,481 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 100% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 6.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 88% 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). 12.5% of Penndel households have no vehicle (Pennsylvania 10.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 4% of Penndel’s commuters take a bus or train.
Penndel is 1,199th of 4,868 U.S. towns of 1,800 to 3,400 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 26 | Newtown PA | 2,257 | $166K | 2.0% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 58 | Churchill PA | 3,014 | $107K | 1.9% | 1.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 70 | Thornbury Township PA | 3,165 | $172K | 2.4% | 2.5% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,197 | Good Hope AL | 2,682 | $94K | 10.9% | 2.2% | 6% | B+ |
| 1,198 | Montague MI | 2,424 | $67K | 4.8% | 0.2% | 12% | B+ |
| 1,199 | Penndel PA | 2,507 | $76K | 11.8% | 3.2% | 4% | B+ |
| 1,200 | Wrightsville PA | 2,259 | $67K | 5.0% | 3.9% | 2% | B+ |
| 1,201 | Clay Township KS | 2,001 | $96K | 6.3% | 2.1% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,868 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Penndel, the top three, the last and three more from Pennsylvania.
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 Penndel: questions
What is the median household income in Penndel?
$75,517 (±$25,229) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,971 across Pennsylvania and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Penndel?
11.8%, against 11.7% across Pennsylvania and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Penndel?
28 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Pennsylvania and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Penndel work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Philadelphia (13%, 15 mi), Middletown Township (10%, 2 mi), Bensalem Township (7%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Penndel walkable?
Penndel is more walkable than 97% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 16.8 out of 20, and 8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Penndel without a car?
4% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. 100% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Penndel, from the people who make the trip.
More of Penndel
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.