Photo: Canadian2006 · CC BY-SA 3.0Pitcairn has lower household incomes than 98% of U.S. towns
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 3.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 37.5 in Pittsburgh. Poverty touches 15.4% of residents, next to 11.7% for Pennsylvania as a whole. For jobs and income Pitcairn is better than 21% of U.S. towns (C−); for walkability it is more walkable than 95% of U.S. towns (A).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Pitcairn and work: the main findings
Pitcairn has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Pitcairn went from 372 in 2013 to 741 in 2023, +99%. The jobs ↓
The jobs in Pitcairn pay better than its residents’ jobs
70% of the jobs based in Pitcairn pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), against 46% of the jobs Pitcairn residents hold. 96% of the jobs here are held by people who live outside Pitcairn. The jobs ↓
Pitcairn and Pittsburgh trade workers both ways
Pittsburgh is the top workplace for Pitcairn residents (22%) and also where the most people who work in Pitcairn come from (10% 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
How Pitcairn earns its Jobs & income grade
Job access by car holds Pitcairn’s grade up (ahead of 86% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($36,419, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Pitcairn could be anywhere from C− to C+.
Mostly health care, schools and offices in Pitcairn
741 jobs are based in Pitcairn.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Pitcairn, 2013 → 2023: 372 → 741. 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 Pitcairn’s own residents hold wherever they work.
22% of working residents work in Pittsburgh
Where Pitcairn clocks in
22% of workers
13% of workers
2% 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.
Who leaves Pitcairn for work, and who comes in
On a workday 1,177 residents head out to work, 28 work right here, and 713 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,500 people are in Pitcairn on a workday afternoon, 16% fewer than live here.
0.61 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
About 28 minutes each way, about the PA average
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Pitcairn workers work from home, vs 16% across Pennsylvania. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,039 commuters (the 14% 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.
Pitcairn’s commute, mile by mile
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.
In Pitcairn, walking beats the bus
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,208 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, 70% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 3.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 77% 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). 12.7% of Pitcairn households have no vehicle (Pennsylvania 10.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 7% of Pitcairn’s commuters take a bus or train.
Pitcairn places 3,602nd of 4,618 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 2,100 to 4,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 19 | Wallace Township PA | 3,759 | $183K | 1.9% | 0.0% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 34 | Newtown PA | 2,257 | $166K | 2.0% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 68 | Churchill PA | 3,014 | $107K | 1.9% | 1.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,600 | Elk Township OH | 3,217 | $61K | 21.2% | 3.5% | 18% | C− |
| 3,601 | Port Richey FL | 3,655 | $51K | 20.7% | 5.6% | 3% | C− |
| 3,602 | Pitcairn PA | 2,953 | $36K | 15.4% | 11.4% | 2% | C− |
| 3,603 | Arthurtown SC | 3,272 | $21K | 63.2% | 14.1% | 1% | C− |
| 3,604 | Fowler IN | 2,386 | $54K | 14.3% | 4.4% | 16% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,618 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 12% | 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 Pitcairn, 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 Pitcairn: questions
What is the median household income in Pitcairn?
$36,419 (±$7,006) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,971 across Pennsylvania and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Pitcairn?
15.4%, against 11.7% across Pennsylvania and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Pitcairn?
28 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Pennsylvania and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Pitcairn work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Pittsburgh (22%, 11 mi), Monroeville (13%, 2 mi), Murrysville (2%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Pitcairn walkable?
Pitcairn is more walkable than 95% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 14.0 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Pitcairn without a car?
7% of commuters take transit and 13% of households have no car. 70% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Pitcairn, from the people who make the trip.
More of Pitcairn
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.