How Preston Township works: jobs, income and commuting
Commuters spend 37 minutes getting to work on average, next to 26 for Pennsylvania and 26 for the U.S. Preston Township grades C− for jobs and income and D for walkability. Only 7% stay in Preston Township for work; outside it, Honesdale is the main destination (6%, 20 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Preston Township
Preston Township workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 37 minutes each way, against 26 across Pennsylvania. Over a year that’s about 284 hours of commuting, 84 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
A big share show a job far from home
32% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. 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; with 406 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How Preston Township earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Preston Township is better than 19% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Preston Township’s grade up ($71,250, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (near the bottom of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (1.8%) is left out: Preston Township’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Preston Township could be anywhere from D− to C+.
How long Preston Township spends getting to work: about 37 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Preston Township workers work from home, vs 16% across Pennsylvania. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 338 commuters (the 10% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Preston Township
About 32% 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 Preston Township
On a workday 377 residents head out to work, 29 work right here, and 210 people come in from elsewhere.
About 850 people are in Preston Township on a workday afternoon, 16% fewer than live here.
0.59 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.
Commuting out of Preston Township: the destinations
Where Preston Township clocks in
6% of workers
3% 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 kinds of work in Preston Township
239 jobs are based in Preston Township.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Preston Township, 2013 → 2023: 164 → 239. 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 Preston Township’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Preston Township is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Preston Township is more walkable than 10% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 375 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). 5.1% of Preston Township households have no vehicle (Pennsylvania 10.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Preston Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 3,133 U.S. towns of 700 to 1,400, Preston Township comes 2,141st on jobs and income
| # | 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% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 7 | Bryn Athyn PA | 1,304 | $143K | 0.3% | 2.6% | 16% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 11 | Rose Valley PA | 1,017 | $247K | 2.9% | 1.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 22 | Bradford Woods PA | 1,126 | $153K | 1.9% | 1.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,139 | Plains TX | 1,323 | $77K | 15.5% | 9.9% | 25% | C− |
| 2,140 | Greenwood WI | 1,079 | $65K | 13.7% | 3.7% | 8% | C− |
| 2,141 | Preston Township PA | 1,013 | $71K | 11.8% | 1.8% | 7% | C− |
| 2,142 | Fort Dick CA | 1,365 | $71K | 15.6% | 13.2% | 2% | C− |
| 2,143 | Celoron NY | 1,049 | $52K | 16.6% | 5.8% | 2% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,133 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Preston Township, the top three, the last and three more from Pennsylvania.
Around Preston Township: the bordering towns
The biggest share goes to Mount Pleasant Township (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Preston Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Preston Township | – | C− | D | 37 min | $71,250 |
| Buckingham Township | under 2% | — | — | 46 min | — |
| Scott Township | under 2% | — | — | 33 min | — |
| Mount Pleasant Township | 2% | C | C | 30 min | $83,750 |
| Starrucca | under 2% | — | — | 53 min | — |
| Thompson Township | under 2% | — | — | 32 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Buckingham Township, Scott Township, Starrucca and Thompson Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Preston 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 Preston Township: questions
What is the median household income in Preston Township?
$71,250 (±$24,645) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,971 across Pennsylvania and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Preston Township?
11.8%, against 11.7% across Pennsylvania and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Preston Township?
37 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Pennsylvania and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Preston Township work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Honesdale (6%, 20 mi), Forest City (4%, 14 mi), Scranton (3%, 34 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Preston Township walkable?
Preston Township is more walkable than 10% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 5.5 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Preston Township without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Preston Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of Preston 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.