Most of Zion commutes out: there are 0.2 jobs for every working resident
Commuters spend 24 minutes getting to work on average, where Pennsylvania has 26 and the U.S. 26. There are 144 jobs in Zion; 918 of its residents have a job. Hardly any work in Zion itself; outside it, College Township draws the most (19%, 10 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Zion: the figures worth knowing
Fewer jobs are based in Zion than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Zion fell from 375 in 2013 to 144 in 2023, −62%. 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 ↓
Zion is a place people come home to
There are 144 jobs based in Zion, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Zion has about 1,200 people in it, 39% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
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; with 918 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Factories, building and farms: 33% of the jobs in Zion
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Zion, 2013 → 2023: 375 → 144. 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 Zion’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Zion by day and by night
On a workday 911 residents head out to work, 7 work right here, and 137 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,200 people are in Zion on a workday afternoon, 39% 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.
Where Zion’s working residents head each day
Where Zion clocks in
19% of workers
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.
How long Zion spends getting to work: about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Zion workers work from home, vs 16% across Pennsylvania. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 882 commuters (the 16% 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.
Half of Zion commutes less than 12 miles
About 21% 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.
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 Zion: questions
What is the median household income in Zion?
$94,829 (±$20,540) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,971 across Pennsylvania and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Zion?
3.7%, against 11.7% across Pennsylvania and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Zion?
24 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Pennsylvania and 26 nationally. 16% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Zion work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are College Township (19%, 10 mi), State College (7%, 12 mi), Bellefonte (7%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Zion without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Zion, from the people who make the trip.
More of Zion
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.