Photo: Doug Kerr from Albany, NY, United States · CC BY-SA 2.0At 10.7%, unemployment in York is higher than in 95% of U.S. towns
For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 7.0 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 37.7 in Philadelphia. The two grades for York are C− for jobs and income and A+ for walkability. Measured by household income, York is behind 90% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in York: the figures worth knowing
A lot of York works one town over
32% of working residents work in a town that borders York: Springettsbury Township (10%), Manchester Township (8%) and West Manchester Township (7%). Next door ↓
The jobs in York pay better than its residents’ jobs
67% of the jobs based in York pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), against 49% of the jobs York residents hold. 89% of the jobs here are held by people who live outside York. 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.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in York
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, York is better than 19% of U.S. towns, #956 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Job access by car holds York’s grade up (ahead of 84% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, York stays C−.
67% of the jobs in York pay over $3,333 a month
23,230 jobs are based in York.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in York, 2013 → 2023: 23,799 → 23,230. 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 York’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How a workday changes York
On a workday 15,656 residents head out to work, 2,517 work right here, and 20,713 people come in from elsewhere.
About 50,000 people are in York on a workday afternoon, 11% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.28 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.
10% of working residents work in Springettsbury Township
Where York clocks in
Lines 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.
Each way, about 23 minutes from York
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of York workers work from home, vs 16% across Pennsylvania. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 17,897 commuters (the 11% 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 commute from York, by distance
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.
In York, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, York is more walkable than 98% of U.S. towns, #37 of 1,035 in Pennsylvania. Both inputs place York 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 20,032 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, 97% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 7.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 89% 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). 20.4% of York households have no vehicle (Pennsylvania 10.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 5% of York’s commuters take a bus or train.
York and other U.S. towns of 32,000 to 61,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| 3 | Upper Arlington OH | 35,893 | $155K | 3.3% | 2.0% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 16 | Northampton Township PA | 39,919 | $159K | 2.5% | 3.1% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 55 | Lower Macungie Township PA | 33,507 | $125K | 2.7% | 3.2% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 91 | Haverford Township PA | 50,997 | $132K | 3.4% | 4.3% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 890 | Rome GA | 38,934 | $54K | 20.6% | 5.9% | 32% | C− |
| 891 | Hagerstown MD | 44,228 | $52K | 21.9% | 7.2% | 19% | C− |
| 892 | York PA | 45,342 | $48K | 21.1% | 10.7% | 14% | C− |
| 893 | Kingman AZ | 35,829 | $62K | 14.3% | 6.7% | 39% | C− |
| 894 | Spartanburg SC | 39,978 | $52K | 23.8% | 7.4% | 26% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 953 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 York, the top three, the last and three more from Pennsylvania.
Next door is work for 32% of York
The biggest share goes to Springettsbury Township (10%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | York workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| York | – | C− | A+ | 23 min | $48,420 |
| Spring Garden Township | 5% | B+ | A+ | 20 min | $102,686 |
| Valley View | under 2% | — | — | 21 min | — |
| West Manchester Township | 7% | A | B− | 26 min | $89,146 |
| Grantley | under 2% | — | — | 18 min | — |
| North York | 2% | C | A | 21 min | $63,927 |
| Manchester Township | 8% | A− | B | 22 min | $95,903 |
| Shiloh | under 2% | — | — | 25 min | — |
| West York | under 2% | B+ | A | 21 min | $80,995 |
| Springettsbury Township | 10% | A− | A− | 22 min | $86,335 |
Same-state neighbors only. Valley View, Grantley and Shiloh: 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 York’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 York: questions
What is the median household income in York?
$48,420 (±$4,892) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,971 across Pennsylvania and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in York?
21.1%, against 11.7% across Pennsylvania and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from York?
23 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Pennsylvania and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in York work?
14% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Springettsbury Township (10%, 3 mi), Manchester Township (8%, 4 mi), West Manchester Township (7%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is York walkable?
York is more walkable than 98% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 16.0 out of 20, and 11% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around York without a car?
5% of commuters take transit and 20% of households have no car. 97% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from York, from the people who make the trip.
More of York
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.