Work & commute · Lykens

Work & commute in Lykens, PA

Most working residents leave Lykens for work: only 5% work in town. The top destinations are Washington (10%), Harrisburg (6%) and Upper Paxton (5%). Half commute less than 19 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

41 of 761 working residents

Typical commute

19 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

30 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

19%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 720 Lykens residents head out of town to work, 41 work right here, and 180 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Lykens.

720live here, work elsewhere

41live and work here

180work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Lykens goes to work

Washington5.9 mi away

10%75

Harrisburg22.2 mi away

6%48

Lykens (in town)right here

5%41

Upper Paxton12 mi away

5%35

Gratz3.1 mi away

3%26

Hegins11.6 mi away

2%19

Lower Swatara24.1 mi away

2%15

Upper Mahantongo8.7 mi away

2%14

Elizabethville6.3 mi away

2%13

Lower Paxton17.9 mi away

2%13

Everywhere elseother towns and states

61%462

Lines run between town centers; a thicker line means more commuters. The top 10 towns each way.

How far

How far Lykens commutes

Straight-line distance from home to work, for every working resident. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

31%

39%

16%

15%

31%Under 10 mi

39%10–24 mi

16%25–50 mi

15%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Lykens is a commuter town

0.29jobs per working resident

A commuter town

0.29 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.

The jobs

What the jobs in Lykens are

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

Jobs based in Lykens

221 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)19%

Trade, transport & utilities33%

Services (health, schools, offices…)48%

$1,250 a month or less31%

$1,251–$3,333 a month26%

Over $3,333 a month43%

Jobs Lykens residents hold

761 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)33%

Trade, transport & utilities20%

Services (health, schools, offices…)46%

$1,250 a month or less14%

$1,251–$3,333 a month25%

Over $3,333 a month62%

−35%

Jobs based in Lykens, 2013 → 2023: 339 → 221. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.

About these numbers

How to read this page

Every worker, home to workThe 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 saysA 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 surveysFlows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time and working from home: the Census American Community Survey.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs; American Community Survey 5-year estimates.