Photo: Jakec · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Wright Township earn more than those in 90% of U.S. towns
About one in ten stay in Wright Township for work; outside it, Wilkes-Barre is the main destination (13%, 9 miles). Below the poverty line: 7.3% of residents, where Pennsylvania as a whole has 11.7%. The two grades for Wright Township are A− for jobs and income and D for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Wright Township and work: the main findings
Wright Township makes and builds things
64% of the jobs based in Wright Township are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Wright Township residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 17%. The jobs ↓
Wright Township is the work center of its corner
Every town that borders Wright Township (Rice Township, Fairview Township, Dennison Township and Dorrance Township) has fewer jobs than working residents, while Wright Township has 1.8 per resident. Next door ↓
Wright Township has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Wright Township went from 2,939 in 2013 to 4,393 in 2023, +49%. The jobs ↓
Most jobs in Wright Township pay over $40,000 a year
74% of the jobs based in Wright Township pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), the top earnings band in the Census data. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Why Wright Township gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Wright Township is better than 81% of U.S. towns, #294 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Household income is its strongest input ($124,000, U.S. $80,734); job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 62% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Wright Township could be anywhere from B− to A+.
Goods jobs make up 64% of work in Wright Township
4,393 jobs are based in Wright Township.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Wright Township, 2013 → 2023: 2,939 → 4,393. 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 Wright Township’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Wright Township on a workday afternoon
On a workday 2,208 residents head out to work, 279 work right here, and 4,114 people come in from elsewhere.
About 7,800 people are in Wright Township on a workday afternoon, 32% more than live here.
1.8 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
Commuting in to Wright Township: where workers come from
Where Wright Township clocks in
13% 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 27 minutes in Wright Township
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Wright Township workers work from home, vs 16% across Pennsylvania. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,288 commuters (the 23% 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 it is to work from Wright Township
About 17% 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 Wright Township start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Wright Township is more walkable than 8% of U.S. towns, #1,003 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Both inputs place Wright 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 2,961 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). 2.7% of Wright Township households have no vehicle (Pennsylvania 10.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Wright Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Wright Township ranks: 737th of 3,336 U.S. towns of 4,200 to 8,000
| # | 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 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | West Vincent Township PA | 6,885 | $203K | 1.4% | 0.8% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 30 | Edgmont Township PA | 4,706 | $137K | 2.4% | 1.1% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 61 | Pocopson Township PA | 4,480 | $230K | 1.3% | 2.2% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 735 | Rothschild WI | 5,627 | $88K | 8.4% | 0.3% | 6% | A− |
| 736 | Peterborough NH | 6,499 | $98K | 5.7% | 0.5% | 27% | A− |
| 737 | Wright Township PA | 5,938 | $124K | 7.3% | 3.2% | 11% | A− |
| 738 | Blue Township KS | 5,449 | $118K | 6.8% | 2.2% | 3% | A− |
| 739 | Belleair FL | 4,631 | $117K | 5.7% | 5.5% | 4% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,336 | Medina TX | 4,226 | $22K | 53.8% | 10.1% | 4% | 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 Wright Township, the top three, the last and three more from Pennsylvania.
Next door to Wright Township
The biggest share goes to Fairview Township (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Wright Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wright Township | – | A− | D | 27 min | $124,000 |
| Rice Township | under 2% | A | C | 26 min | $110,511 |
| Fairview Township | 3% | A− | C | 24 min | $96,500 |
| Dennison Township | under 2% | — | — | 32 min | — |
| Dorrance Township | under 2% | A | C− | 38 min | $98,916 |
Same-state neighbors only. Dennison Township: not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Wright 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 Wright Township: questions
What is the median household income in Wright Township?
$124,000 (±$25,122) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,971 across Pennsylvania and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Wright Township?
7.3%, against 11.7% across Pennsylvania and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Wright Township?
27 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Pennsylvania and 26 nationally. 23% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Wright Township work?
11% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Wilkes-Barre (13%, 9 mi), Plains Township (6%, 11 mi), Hanover Township (4%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Wright Township walkable?
Wright Township is more walkable than 8% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 5.1 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Wright Township without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Wright Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of Wright 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.