Photo: Jakec · CC BY-SA 4.0Unemployment in Rice Township (1.4%) is lower than in 91% of U.S. towns
For jobs and income Rice Township is better than 88% of U.S. towns (A); for walkability it is more walkable than 34% of U.S. towns (C). Measured by household income, Rice Township is ahead of 84% of U.S. towns. Only 3% work in Rice Township itself; outside it, Wilkes-Barre draws the most (15%, 6 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Rice Township apart
Rice Township’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
Unemployment is its strongest input; job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 58% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Rice Township could be anywhere from B to A+.
Who commutes out of Rice Township, and who commutes in
On a workday 1,635 residents head out to work, 42 work right here, and 199 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,400 people are in Rice Township on a workday afternoon, 37% fewer than live here.
0.14 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.
Where Rice Township goes to work
Where Rice Township clocks in
15% of workers
10% 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.
Mostly health care, schools and offices in Rice Township
241 jobs are based in Rice Township.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Rice Township, 2013 → 2023: 301 → 241. 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 Rice Township’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Time on the road from Rice Township: about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Rice Township workers work from home, vs 16% across Pennsylvania. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,518 commuters (the 19% 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.
The commute from Rice Township, by distance
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.
Most trips from Rice Township start in a car
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,866 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). 0.5% of Rice Township households have no vehicle (Pennsylvania 10.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Rice Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 4,264 U.S. towns of 2,700 to 5,200, Rice Township comes 491st on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 21 | Wallace Township PA | 3,759 | $183K | 1.9% | 0.0% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 26 | Edgmont Township PA | 4,706 | $137K | 2.4% | 1.1% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 62 | Pocopson Township PA | 4,480 | $230K | 1.3% | 2.2% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 489 | Clay Township IN | 3,381 | $90K | 2.0% | 1.2% | 1% | A |
| 490 | Whiteford Township MI | 4,618 | $101K | 4.5% | 2.8% | 7% | A |
| 491 | Rice Township PA | 3,834 | $111K | 6.1% | 1.4% | 3% | A |
| 492 | Addison WI | 3,416 | $113K | 3.7% | 3.7% | 7% | A |
| 493 | Townsend DE | 2,985 | $153K | 2.4% | 3.7% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,264 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Rice Township, the top three, the last and three more from Pennsylvania.
Rice Township and its neighbors: 14% work next door
The biggest share goes to Wright Township (10%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Rice Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rice Township | – | A | C | 26 min | $110,511 |
| Wright Township | 10% | A− | D | 27 min | $124,000 |
| Mountain Top | under 3% | — | — | 27 min | — |
| Nuangola | under 3% | — | — | 24 min | — |
| Fairview Township | 4% | A− | C | 24 min | $96,500 |
| Dorrance Township | under 3% | A | C− | 38 min | $98,916 |
Same-state neighbors only. Mountain Top: a Census-designated place inside a larger town, graded as part of it. Nuangola: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Rice 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 Rice Township: questions
What is the median household income in Rice Township?
$110,511 (±$16,648) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,971 across Pennsylvania and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Rice Township?
6.1%, against 11.7% across Pennsylvania and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Rice Township?
26 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Pennsylvania and 26 nationally. 19% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Rice Township work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Wilkes-Barre (15%, 6 mi), Wright Township (10%, 3 mi), Plains Township (7%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Rice Township walkable?
Rice Township is more walkable than 34% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 5.7 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Rice Township without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Rice Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of Rice 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.