Work & commute · Penn Forest

Work & commute in Penn Forest, PA

Most working residents leave Penn Forest for work: only 6% work in town. The top destinations are Kidder (4%), Allentown (3%) and Jim Thorpe (3%). Half commute less than 26 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

223 of 3,610 working residents

Typical commute

26 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

42 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

21%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 3,387 Penn Forest residents head out of town to work, 223 work right here, and 404 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Penn Forest.

3,387live here, work elsewhere

223live and work here

404work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Penn Forest goes to work

Penn Forest (in town)right here

6%223

Kidder7 mi away

4%138

Allentown26.2 mi away

3%126

Jim Thorpe10.4 mi away

3%113

Philadelphia70.4 mi away

3%113

Upper Macungie26.8 mi away

3%99

Bethlehem26.5 mi away

3%93

Pocono17.9 mi away

3%92

Lehighton10 mi away

2%68

Fountain Hill27.3 mi away

2%60

Everywhere elseother towns and states

69%2,485

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

How far

How far Penn Forest commutes

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

18%

29%

27%

26%

18%Under 10 mi

29%10–24 mi

27%25–50 mi

26%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Penn Forest is a commuter town

0.17jobs per working resident

A commuter town

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

The jobs

What the jobs in Penn Forest are

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

Jobs based in Penn Forest

627 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)13%

Trade, transport & utilities16%

Services (health, schools, offices…)71%

$1,250 a month or less29%

$1,251–$3,333 a month31%

Over $3,333 a month40%

Jobs Penn Forest residents hold

3,610 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)16%

Trade, transport & utilities23%

Services (health, schools, offices…)61%

$1,250 a month or less16%

$1,251–$3,333 a month25%

Over $3,333 a month59%

−24%

Jobs based in Penn Forest, 2013 → 2023: 830 → 627. 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.