Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0State College is a college town: 66% of residents are students
Family incomes here are higher than in 79% of U.S. towns. The two grades for State College are B+ for jobs and income and A+ for walkability. About one in ten work in State College; the top destination outside it is College Township (24%, 3 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where State College stands out on work
Commutes from State College are quick
The average trip to work takes 16 minutes, against 26 across Pennsylvania. That’s about 77 hours a year less on the road than the typical Pennsylvania worker. Time on the road ↓
A big share show a job far from home
45% 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 ↓
A lot of State College works one town over
30% of working residents work in a town that borders State College: College Township (24%) and Ferguson Township (6%). Next door ↓
Nearly all the work in State College is services
89% of the jobs based here are in services, such as health care, schools and offices. Only 1% are in factories, building or farms. The jobs ↓
Young people hold many of the jobs here
34% of the jobs based in State College are held by workers 29 or younger, against 28% of State College’s own working residents. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
State College’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
Family income holds State College’s grade up ($122,054, U.S. $99,999); the poverty rate pulls it down (11.4%, U.S. 11.9%). It also does well on job access by car.
Where students are 15% or more of the people the Census checks for poverty (47% here), the grade uses the rate without them: 11.4%, against 38.1% for all residents. Unemployment (5.0%) is left out here: students looking for part-time work count as unemployed. Income is ranked as median family income ($122,054), since student households pull the household median down ($45,424).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for family income and poverty, State College could be anywhere from B− to A.
Getting to work from State College takes about 16 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of State College workers work from home, vs 16% across Pennsylvania. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 13,422 commuters (the 15% 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 State College goes to work
About 45% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Mostly health care, schools and offices in State College
9,479 jobs are based in State College.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in State College, 2014 → 2024: 9,593 → 9,479. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs State College’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who commutes out of State College, and who commutes in
On a workday 6,095 residents head out to work, 821 work right here, and 8,658 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 (1.37 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
The places State College commutes to
Where State College clocks in
24% of workers
6% of workers
2% 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.
State College is among the most walkable U.S. towns
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, State College is among the most walkable U.S. towns, #4 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Both inputs place State College 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 15,841 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, 90% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 25.8 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, among the most 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). 23.8% of State College households have no vehicle (Pennsylvania 10.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 8% of State College’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 1,019 U.S. towns of 29,000 to 55,000, State College comes 536th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 19 | Northampton Township PA | 39,919 | $159K | 2.5% | 3.1% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 66 | Lower Macungie Township PA | 33,507 | $125K | 2.7% | 3.2% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 105 | Haverford Township PA | 50,997 | $132K | 3.4% | 4.3% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 534 | Leland NC | 35,731 | $92K | 6.1% | 4.7% | 8% | B+ |
| 535 | Parkville MD | 30,549 | $79K | 8.6% | 5.0% | 2% | B+ |
| 536 | State College PA | 40,844 | $45K | 38.1% | 5.0% | 12% | B+ |
| 537 | Lathrop CA | 42,783 | $126K | 7.1% | 9.0% | 6% | B+ |
| 538 | Land O' Lakes FL | 38,910 | $99K | 8.3% | 5.5% | 5% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,019 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 25% | 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 State College, the top three, the last and three more from Pennsylvania.
30% of State College works in a bordering town
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | State College workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| State College | – | B+ | A+ | 16 min | $45,424 |
| College Township | 24% | A− | A+ | 16 min | $101,323 |
| Ferguson Township | 6% | B+ | A+ | 16 min | $85,935 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to College Township. Darker towns draw more of State College’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 2024, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Students. 66% of residents are college students; the poverty input leaves off-campus students out (above).
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in State College: questions
What is the median household income in State College?
$45,424 (±$6,688) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,971 across Pennsylvania and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in State College?
38.1% of residents live below the poverty line; leaving out college students, 11.4%. Pennsylvania: 11.7%.
How long is the commute from State College?
16 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Pennsylvania and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in State College work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are College Township (24%, 3 mi), Ferguson Township (6%, 6 mi), Patton Township (2%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is State College walkable?
State College is among the most walkable U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 14.9 out of 20, and 48% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around State College without a car?
8% of commuters take transit and 24% of households have no car. 90% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from State College, from the people who make the trip.
More of State College
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.