Photo: S.MacMillen · Public domainSterling Township has 0.6 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Jobs and income earn Sterling Township C+; getting around on foot earns it C+. Sterling Township has 353 jobs; 629 of its residents have a job. 8% of workers work from home; Pennsylvania has 16%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Sterling Township apart
How Sterling Township earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Sterling Township is better than 43% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Sterling Township’s grade up (8.1%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 32% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (3.2%) is left out: Sterling 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, Sterling Township could be anywhere from C− to B+.
Sterling Township works in goods: 36% of its jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sterling Township, 2013 → 2023: 207 → 353. 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 Sterling Township’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily flow of workers through Sterling Township
On a workday 601 residents head out to work, 28 work right here, and 325 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,200 people are in Sterling Township on a workday afternoon, 18% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
6% of working residents work in Scranton
Where Sterling Township clocks in
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.
A commute of about 25 minutes in Sterling Township
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sterling Township workers work from home, vs 16% across Pennsylvania. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 633 commuters (the 8% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Sterling Township
About 27% 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.
Driving is how Sterling Township gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Sterling Township is more walkable than 37% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Sterling Township 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 686 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). 2.8% of Sterling Township households have no vehicle (Pennsylvania 10.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Sterling Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
Sterling Township places 2,533rd of 5,794 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,100
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 12 | Bryn Athyn PA | 1,304 | $143K | 0.3% | 2.6% | 16% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 31 | Bradford Woods PA | 1,126 | $153K | 1.9% | 1.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 41 | Edgeworth PA | 1,611 | $203K | 3.0% | 3.9% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,531 | Winthrop MN | 1,341 | $69K | 6.1% | 6.5% | 10% | C+ |
| 2,532 | Sandycreek Township PA | 2,028 | $88K | 8.0% | 5.7% | 10% | C+ |
| 2,533 | Sterling Township PA | 1,523 | $70K | 8.1% | 3.2% | 4% | C+ |
| 2,534 | Marsing ID | 1,230 | $70K | 10.2% | 1.7% | 8% | C+ |
| 2,535 | Blue Ridge TX | 1,265 | $77K | 20.6% | 2.8% | 4% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,794 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 Sterling Township, the top three, the last and three more from Pennsylvania.
Next door to Sterling Township
The biggest share goes to Salem Township (5%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Sterling Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sterling Township | – | C+ | C+ | 25 min | $70,417 |
| Salem Township | 5% | C− | A− | 28 min | $61,659 |
| Greene Township | under 3% | D | C | 44 min | $64,219 |
| Dreher Township | 4% | D | B | 25 min | $51,648 |
| Lake Wallenpaupack Estates | under 3% | — | — | — | — |
| Lehigh Township | under 3% | C− | C+ | 24 min | $55,536 |
| Madison Township | under 3% | B− | C− | 23 min | $79,769 |
Same-state neighbors only. Lake Wallenpaupack Estates: a Census-designated place inside a larger town, graded as part of it. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Sterling 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 Sterling Township: questions
What is the median household income in Sterling Township?
$70,417 (±$23,595) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,971 across Pennsylvania and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sterling Township?
8.1%, against 11.7% across Pennsylvania and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sterling Township?
25 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Pennsylvania and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sterling Township work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Scranton (6%, 15 mi), Salem Township (5%, 5 mi), Dreher Township (4%, 3 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Sterling Township walkable?
Sterling Township is more walkable than 37% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 6.2 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sterling Township without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sterling Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sterling 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.