Spring Grove Borough Historic District · Photo: Smallbones · CC0Making a living in Spring Grove
6% of workers have no commute at all, next to 16% for Pennsylvania as a whole. Spring Grove grades B for jobs and income and A for walkability. For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 0.3 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 37.7 in Philadelphia.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Spring Grove and work: the main findings
Spring Grove trades workers with the towns around it
Spring Grove has about as many jobs (1,246) as working residents (1,227), but they are mostly different people: 1,160 residents leave for work each day while 1,179 people come in. Only 5% of the jobs in Spring Grove are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Spring Grove makes and builds things
51% of the jobs based in Spring Grove are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Spring Grove residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 30%. The jobs ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Spring Grove than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Spring Grove fell from 1,795 in 2013 to 1,246 in 2023, −31%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
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.
Inside Spring Grove’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Spring Grove is better than 62% of U.S. towns, #561 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Job access by car is its strongest input (ahead of 74% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (9.6%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and unemployment.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Spring Grove could be anywhere from C to A.
How many people are in Spring Grove by day
On a workday 1,160 residents head out to work, 67 work right here, and 1,179 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.02 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Goods, not services: 51% of the jobs in Spring Grove
1,246 jobs are based in Spring Grove.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Spring Grove, 2013 → 2023: 1,795 → 1,246. 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 Spring Grove’s own residents hold wherever they work.
7% of working residents work in West Manchester Township
Where Spring Grove clocks in
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.
The trip to work from Spring Grove: 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 Spring Grove workers work from home, vs 16% across Pennsylvania. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,223 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.
How far Spring Grove’s workers travel
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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Spring Grove
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Spring Grove is more walkable than 93% of U.S. towns, #139 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 5.8% 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 1,306 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 48% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 47% 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). 1.8% of Spring Grove households have no vehicle (Pennsylvania 10.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Spring Grove’s commuters take a bus or train.
Spring Grove places 1,565th of 4,868 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 1,800 to 3,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 26 | Newtown PA | 2,257 | $166K | 2.0% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 58 | Churchill PA | 3,014 | $107K | 1.9% | 1.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 70 | Thornbury Township PA | 3,165 | $172K | 2.4% | 2.5% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,563 | Holiday Shores IL | 2,782 | $87K | 4.1% | 7.1% | 1% | B |
| 1,564 | Caledonia MN | 2,768 | $76K | 8.9% | 1.5% | 35% | B |
| 1,565 | Spring Grove PA | 2,520 | $77K | 9.6% | 4.0% | 5% | B |
| 1,566 | Shiner TX | 2,165 | $99K | 5.7% | 3.3% | 18% | B |
| 1,567 | Emmett Township MI | 2,515 | $97K | 3.1% | 4.6% | 2% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 4,868 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Spring Grove, the top three, the last and three more from Pennsylvania.
Around Spring Grove: the bordering towns
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Spring Grove workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spring Grove | – | B | A | 23 min | $76,620 |
| Jackson Township | 6% | B | D | 28 min | $88,589 |
| North Codorus Township | 2% | A | D | 26 min | $98,061 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Jackson Township. Darker towns draw more of Spring Grove’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 Spring Grove: questions
What is the median household income in Spring Grove?
$76,620 (±$13,028) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,971 across Pennsylvania and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Spring Grove?
9.6%, against 11.7% across Pennsylvania and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Spring Grove?
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 Spring Grove work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are West Manchester Township (7%, 6 mi), York (7%, 9 mi), Penn Township (7%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Spring Grove walkable?
Spring Grove is more walkable than 93% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 13.8 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Spring Grove without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 48% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Spring Grove, from the people who make the trip.
More of Spring Grove
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.