Sign inJoin
Work & commute in Deer Lake · A commuter town

100% of Deer Lake’s working residents leave town for work

Most working residents leave Deer Lake for work: only 0% work in town. The top destinations are West Brunswick (7%), Orwigsburg (6%) and Pottsville (6%). Half commute less than 19 miles.

Work in town
0%
0 of 329 working residents
Typical commute
19 mi
half travel less, straight-line
Time each way
38 min
More than PA (26 min)
Work from home
10%
Less than PA (16%)
Jobs based here
27
A commuter town

What kind of work town is Deer Lake?

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

★ What stands out · The commute map

7% of working residents work in West Brunswick

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

Deer LakeGordonMinersvilleShillingtonSt. Clair: 5 residents work here (2%)Schuylkill Haven: 8 residents work here (2%)HamburgKingstonOrwigsburg: 20 residents work here (6%)Pottsville: 19 residents work here (6%)Reading: 18 residents work here (5%)Philadelphia: 13 residents work here (4%)South ManheimUpper Macungie: 12 residents work here (4%)North Manheim: 15 residents work here (5%)Tilden: 6 residents work here (2%)West Brunswick: 22 residents work here (7%)East BrunswickWest BrunswickOrwigsburgPottsvilleReadingNorth ManheimPhiladelphiaDeer Lake
17%22
2
Orwigsburg3.4 mi away
6%20
3
Pottsville9 mi away
6%19
4
Reading20.7 mi away
5%18
5
North Manheim6.7 mi away
5%15
6
Philadelphia64.5 mi away
4%13
7
Upper Macungie22.9 mi away
4%12
8
Schuylkill Haven6.2 mi away
2%8
9
Tilden5.5 mi away
2%6
10
St. Clair9.8 mi away
2%5
Everywhere elseother towns and states
58%191
The top trips

Where Deer Lake clocks in

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

Time on the road

About 38 minutes each way, longer than most of Pennsylvania

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

A year of commuting
291 hours

Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 12.1 full days in the car, bus or train.

Average commute minutes, one way

Deer Lake38 min
Pennsylvania26 min
U.S.26 min
Working from home
10%

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

About 1 in 10
Day and night

Deer Lake quiets down on a workday

On a workday 329 residents head out to work, 0 work right here, and 27 people come in from elsewhere.

329live here, work elsewhere
0live and work here
27work here, live elsewhere
Night and day
At night660
Workday350
660live here− 330head out to work+ 27come in to work= 350on a workday

About 350 people are in Deer Lake on a workday afternoon, 46% fewer than live here.

Job hub or commuter town?
0.08jobs per workerCommuter townJob hub

0.08 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.

How far

Half of Deer Lake commutes less than 19 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 mi75 miWest Brunswick: 7% · 1 miOrwigsburg: 6% · 3.4 miPottsville: 6% · 9 miReading: 5% · 20.7 miNorth Manheim: 5% · 6.7 miPhiladelphia: 4% · 64.5 miUpper Macungie: 4% · 22.9 miSchuylkill Haven: 2% · 6.2 miTilden: 2% · 5.5 miSt. Clair: 2% · 9.8 miWest Brunswick 7%Orwigsburg 6%Pottsville 6%Reading 5%Deer Lake
Deer LakeTop destinations (size = commuters)
36%Under 10 mi118 residents
29%10–24 mi94 residents
19%25–50 mi64 residents
16%Over 50 mi53 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.

The jobs

Deer Lake makes things: 44% of its jobs are in goods

27 jobs are based in Deer Lake. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Deer Lake’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Deer LakeJobs Deer Lake residents hold

What kind of work

Goods: factories, building, farms44%29%
Trade, transport & utilities33%19%
Services: health, schools, offices22%52%

What it pays

$1,250 a month or less15%13%
$1,251–$3,333 a month48%19%
Over $3,333 a month37%68%

Who does it

29 or younger15%18%
30 to 5437%48%
55 and older48%34%
−13%

Jobs based in Deer Lake, 2013 → 2023: 31 → 27. 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.

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 Deer Lake

Deer Lake home →

Commuter talk

Getting to work from Deer Lake, from the people who make the trip.

Town Square →
Weigh in
Is the commute from Deer Lake worth it?

Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.

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.

Post to Deer Lake

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in