Photo: Doug Kerr from Albany, NY, United States · CC BY-SA 2.0Household incomes in Shamokin are lower than in 96% of U.S. towns
6% of workers have no commute at all, where Pennsylvania as a whole has 16%. The poverty rate is 24.6%; Pennsylvania has 11.7%. Jobs and income earn Shamokin C; getting around on foot earns it A.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Shamokin stands out on work
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Shamokin
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Shamokin is better than 28% of U.S. towns, #889 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Unemployment holds Shamokin’s grade up (2.1%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($39,690, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Shamokin could be anywhere from C− to C+.
A commute of about 32 minutes in Shamokin
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Shamokin workers work from home, vs 16% across Pennsylvania. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,444 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.
The daily flow of workers through Shamokin
On a workday 2,219 residents head out to work, 170 work right here, and 1,188 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,700 people are in Shamokin on a workday afternoon, 15% fewer than live here.
0.57 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.
10% of working residents work in Coal Township
Where Shamokin clocks in
10% of workers
6% of workers
5% 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.
What the 1,358 jobs in Shamokin are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Shamokin, 2013 → 2023: 1,531 → 1,358. 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 Shamokin’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where in the region Shamokin works
About 22% 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.
Shamokin is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Shamokin is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns, #199 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Both inputs place Shamokin 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 2,596 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). 22.4% of Shamokin households have no vehicle (Pennsylvania 10.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Shamokin’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Shamokin is 2,510th of 3,253 U.S. towns of 4,700 to 9,100
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 63 | Upper Nazareth Township PA | 8,521 | $122K | 1.2% | 0.9% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,508 | Latrobe PA | 7,826 | $56K | 16.6% | 5.4% | 14% | C |
| 2,509 | Tecumseh OK | 6,402 | $49K | 16.3% | 3.6% | 9% | C |
| 2,510 | Shamokin PA | 6,764 | $40K | 24.6% | 2.1% | 7% | C |
| 2,511 | Malone NY | 5,315 | $61K | 22.2% | 2.3% | 34% | C |
| 2,512 | Gustine CA | 6,112 | $60K | 4.0% | 11.3% | 14% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 3,253 | 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 Shamokin, the top three, the last and three more from Pennsylvania.
Around Shamokin: the bordering towns
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Shamokin workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shamokin | – | C | A | 32 min | $39,690 |
| Fairview-Ferndale | under 2% | — | — | 25 min | — |
| Marshallton | under 2% | — | — | 28 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Fairview-Ferndale and Marshallton: Census-designated places inside larger towns, graded as part of them. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Shamokin’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 Shamokin: questions
What is the median household income in Shamokin?
$39,690 (±$6,017) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,971 across Pennsylvania and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Shamokin?
24.6%, against 11.7% across Pennsylvania and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Shamokin?
32 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Pennsylvania and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Shamokin work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Coal Township (10%, 2 mi), Mahoning Township (6%, 12 mi), Ralpho Township (5%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Shamokin walkable?
Shamokin is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 10.3 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Shamokin without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 22% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Shamokin, from the people who make the trip.
More of Shamokin
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.