Photo: Vasiliymeshko · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Pittston are lower than in 88% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Pittston C−; getting around on foot earns it A−. The poverty rate is 20.0%, against 11.7% across Pennsylvania. 6% of workers have no commute at all, next to 16% for Pennsylvania as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Pittston: the gist
Pittston has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Pittston went from 1,403 in 2013 to 2,126 in 2023, +52%. The jobs ↓
Most Pittston residents work close to home
62% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. How far ↓
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.
The figures behind Pittston’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Pittston is better than 24% of U.S. towns, #913 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Job access by car holds Pittston’s grade up (ahead of 71% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($49,941, U.S. $80,734).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Pittston could be anywhere from D to B−.
The kinds of work in Pittston
2,126 jobs are based in Pittston.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Pittston, 2013 → 2023: 1,403 → 2,126. 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 Pittston’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Pittston’s workers travel
About 19% 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 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
The workday shuffle in and out of Pittston
On a workday 3,107 residents head out to work, 203 work right here, and 1,923 people come in from elsewhere.
About 6,500 people are in Pittston on a workday afternoon, 15% fewer than live here.
0.64 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.
9% of working residents work in Scranton
Where Pittston clocks in
9% of workers
8% 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.
Time on the road from Pittston: about 23 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Pittston workers work from home, vs 16% across Pennsylvania. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,115 commuters (the 6% 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.
In Pittston, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Pittston is more walkable than 81% of U.S. towns, #305 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Both inputs place Pittston 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 3,329 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). 18.9% of Pittston households have no vehicle (Pennsylvania 10.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Pittston’s commuters take a bus or train.
Pittston places 2,465th of 3,051 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 5,400 to 10,400
| # | 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 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 22 | West Vincent Township PA | 6,885 | $203K | 1.4% | 0.8% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 54 | Bethel Township PA | 9,774 | $177K | 1.8% | 2.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 64 | Upper Nazareth Township PA | 8,521 | $122K | 1.2% | 0.9% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,463 | Clinton Township IN | 8,925 | $57K | 17.3% | 4.2% | 18% | C− |
| 2,464 | Corning CA | 8,260 | $57K | 17.9% | 2.8% | 15% | C− |
| 2,465 | Pittston PA | 7,715 | $50K | 20.0% | 5.6% | 6% | C− |
| 2,466 | Sunbury PA | 9,495 | $51K | 18.7% | 4.8% | 11% | C− |
| 2,467 | Porter Township OH | 9,437 | $59K | 13.6% | 4.7% | 12% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,051 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Pittston, the top three, the last and three more from Pennsylvania.
11% of Pittston works in a bordering town
The biggest share goes to Pittston Township (7%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Pittston workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pittston | – | C− | A− | 23 min | $49,941 |
| Pittston Township | 7% | A− | B+ | 26 min | $68,702 |
| Browntown | under 2% | — | — | 28 min | — |
| Exeter | under 2% | C | A | 23 min | $57,639 |
| West Pittston | under 2% | B | A− | 17 min | $63,706 |
| Duryea | under 2% | B− | C+ | 26 min | $62,462 |
| Jenkins Township | 4% | C+ | C | 19 min | $54,878 |
Same-state neighbors only. Browntown: a Census-designated place inside a larger town, graded as part of it. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Pittston’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 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 Pittston: questions
What is the median household income in Pittston?
$49,941 (±$8,196) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,971 across Pennsylvania and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Pittston?
20.0%, against 11.7% across Pennsylvania and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Pittston?
23 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Pennsylvania and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Pittston work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Scranton (9%, 8 mi), Wilkes-Barre (8%, 7 mi), Pittston Township (7%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Pittston walkable?
Pittston is more walkable than 81% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 9.6 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Pittston 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 Pittston, from the people who make the trip.
More of Pittston
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.