Photo: Nicholas · CC BY 2.0Plainfield Township has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.5 for each
Employers in Plainfield Township report 1,329 jobs, and 2,914 of its residents work somewhere. Jobs and income earn Plainfield Township B; getting around on foot earns it C. 5% of workers work from home, 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
Work in Plainfield Township: the figures worth knowing
Why Plainfield Township gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Plainfield Township is better than 56% of U.S. towns, #626 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Job access by car holds Plainfield Township’s grade up (ahead of 68% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (5.6%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Plainfield Township could be anywhere from C to A.
Where Plainfield Township goes to work
Where Plainfield Township clocks in
4% of workers
4% 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 flow of workers through Plainfield Township
On a workday 2,771 residents head out to work, 143 work right here, and 1,186 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,700 people are in Plainfield Township 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.
What Plainfield Township’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Plainfield Township, 2013 → 2023: 1,400 → 1,329. 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 Plainfield Township’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Plainfield Township: about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Plainfield Township workers work from home, vs 16% across Pennsylvania. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,844 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 Plainfield Township goes to work
About 15% 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.
Getting around Plainfield Township: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Plainfield Township is more walkable than 29% of U.S. towns, #819 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 8.6% across Pennsylvania.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,993 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 1.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 59% 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). 3.0% of Plainfield Township households have no vehicle (Pennsylvania 10.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Plainfield Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 3,349 U.S. towns of 4,400 to 8,500, Plainfield Township comes 1,646th 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 | Norwood NJ | 5,817 | $178K | 2.8% | 0.9% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 24 | West Vincent Township PA | 6,885 | $203K | 1.4% | 0.8% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 28 | Edgmont Township PA | 4,706 | $137K | 2.4% | 1.1% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 61 | Pocopson Township PA | 4,480 | $230K | 1.3% | 2.2% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,644 | Derry Township PA | 7,244 | $69K | 6.6% | 2.4% | 13% | B |
| 1,645 | Woodfin NC | 8,229 | $71K | 14.1% | 3.0% | 6% | B |
| 1,646 | Plainfield Township PA | 6,315 | $87K | 9.4% | 5.6% | 5% | B |
| 1,647 | Surf City NC | 5,142 | $81K | 5.5% | 2.8% | 12% | B |
| 1,648 | Lafayette Township IL | 4,678 | $69K | 13.4% | 0.5% | 12% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 3,349 | 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 Plainfield Township, the top three, the last and three more from Pennsylvania.
Around Plainfield Township: the bordering towns
The biggest share goes to Forks Township (4%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Plainfield Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plainfield Township | – | B | C | 24 min | $87,230 |
| Stockertown | under 3% | — | — | 23 min | — |
| Wind Gap | 3% | B | B− | 26 min | $71,375 |
| Washington Township | under 3% | B+ | C− | 32 min | $86,442 |
| Forks Township | 4% | A | C+ | 30 min | $110,190 |
| Bushkill Township | under 3% | A | D | 29 min | $120,522 |
| Lower Mount Bethel Township | under 3% | A− | C− | 34 min | $84,083 |
| Hamilton Township | under 3% | C+ | C+ | 38 min | $74,414 |
| Ross Township | under 3% | C+ | B− | 34 min | $64,392 |
Same-state neighbors only. Stockertown: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Plainfield 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 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 Plainfield Township: questions
What is the median household income in Plainfield Township?
$87,230 (±$18,519) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,971 across Pennsylvania and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Plainfield Township?
9.4%, against 11.7% across Pennsylvania and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Plainfield Township?
24 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Pennsylvania and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Plainfield Township work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Bethlehem (4%, 14 mi), Palmer Township (4%, 8 mi), Allentown (4%, 19 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Plainfield Township walkable?
Plainfield Township is more walkable than 29% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 6.8 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Plainfield Township without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Plainfield Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of Plainfield Township
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.