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Work & commute in Colonial Park · Balanced

94% of Colonial Park’s working residents leave town for work

Most working residents leave Colonial Park for work: only 6% work in town. The top destinations are Harrisburg (15%), Lower Paxton (13%) and Derry (7%). Half commute less than 7 miles.

Work in town
6%
419 of 7,239 working residents
Typical commute
7 mi
half travel less, straight-line
Time each way
20 min
Less than PA (26 min)
Work from home
15%
Less than PA (16%)
Jobs based here
9,669
Balanced

What kind of work town is Colonial Park?

Read from the numbers below. The page puts what stands out first.

★ What stands out · Time on the road

About 20 minutes each way, quicker than most of Pennsylvania

From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.

A year of commuting
155 hours

Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.5 full days in the car, bus or train.

Average commute minutes, one way

Colonial Park20 min
Pennsylvania26 min
U.S.26 min
Working from home
15%

of Colonial Park workers work from home, vs 16% across Pennsylvania. Their commute is the hallway.

About 1 in 10
How far

Half of Colonial Park commutes less than 7 miles

Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

10 mi25 mi50 mi80 miHarrisburg: 15% · 4.4 miLower Paxton: 13% · 1.3 miDerry: 7% · 8.4 miSusquehanna: 7% · 3.5 miSwatara: 6% · 3.6 miHampden: 3% · 9.6 miLower Swatara: 3% · 6.1 miLower Allen: 3% · 8.9 miEast Pennsboro: 2% · 6.9 miPhiladelphia: 2% · 90.6 miHarrisburg 15%Lower Paxton 13%Derry 7%Susquehanna 7%Swatara 6%Colonial Park
Colonial ParkTop destinations (size = commuters)
63%Under 10 mi4,578 residents
15%10–24 mi1,061 residents
6%25–50 mi424 residents
16%Over 50 mi1,156 residents

About 16% 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.

Day and night

Colonial Park fills up on a workday

On a workday 6,820 residents head out to work, 419 work right here, and 9,250 people come in from elsewhere.

6,820live here, work elsewhere
419live and work here
9,250work here, live elsewhere
Night and day
At night18,000
Workday20,000
18,000live here− 6,800head out to work+ 9,300come in to work= 20,000on a workday

About 20,000 people are in Colonial Park on a workday afternoon, 13% more than live here.

Job hub or commuter town?
1.34jobs per workerCommuter townJob hub

About as many jobs as working residents (1.34 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.

The commute map

15% of working residents work in Harrisburg

A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.

Harrisburg: 1,064 residents work here (15%)Philadelphia: 128 residents work here (2%)Silver SpringLower Swatara: 208 residents work here (3%)Susquehanna: 483 residents work here (7%)Lower Paxton: 928 residents work here (13%)Derry: 522 residents work here (7%)Swatara: 431 residents work here (6%)Lower Allen: 202 residents work here (3%)East Pennsboro: 144 residents work here (2%)Hampden: 241 residents work here (3%)West HanoverPaxtoniaProgressColonial ParkHarrisburgLower PaxtonDerrySusquehannaSwataraHampdenColonial Park
1
Harrisburg4.4 mi away
15%1,064
2
Lower Paxton1.3 mi away
13%928
3
Derry8.4 mi away
7%522
4
Susquehanna3.5 mi away
7%483
5
Swatara3.6 mi away
6%431
6
Hampden9.6 mi away
3%241
7
Lower Swatara6.1 mi away
3%208
8
Lower Allen8.9 mi away
3%202
9
East Pennsboro6.9 mi away
2%144
10
Philadelphia90.6 mi away
2%128
Everywhere elseother towns and states
40%2,888
The top trips

Where Colonial Park clocks in

Lines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.

The jobs

Mostly services: health care, schools and offices

9,669 jobs are based in Colonial Park. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Colonial Park’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Colonial ParkJobs Colonial Park residents hold

What kind of work

Goods: factories, building, farms1%9%
Trade, transport & utilities18%25%
Services: health, schools, offices81%66%

What it pays

$1,250 a month or less18%14%
$1,251–$3,333 a month31%27%
Over $3,333 a month51%59%

Who does it

29 or younger26%24%
30 to 5451%53%
55 and older22%23%
+4%

Jobs based in Colonial Park, 2013 → 2023: 9,271 → 9,669. 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.

Next door

Colonial Park and the towns next door

Darker towns draw more of Colonial Park’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.

10%+5–9%2–4%1%Under 1%

Average commute minutes, one way

Colonial Park20 min
Progress22 min
Paxtonia22 min
How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

  • Every worker, home to work. The Census links each worker’s home block to their main job’s block, for jobs covered by unemployment insurance. That’s most jobs, but not the self-employed.
  • Where the employer says. A job counts where the employer reports it. Some big employers report one address for many sites, which can make a few commutes look longer than they are.
  • Two surveys. Flows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: the Census American Community Survey.
  • Straight lines. Distances are as the crow flies between home and work. Roads, rivers and traffic make the real trip longer.
Beyond the commute

More of Colonial Park

Colonial Park home →

Commuter talk

Getting to work from Colonial Park, from the people who make the trip.

Town Square →
Weigh in
Is the commute from Colonial Park worth it?

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Ask neighbors

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.

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