Work & commute · Penn

Work & commute in Penn, PA

Most working residents leave Penn for work: only 7% work in town. The top destinations are Harrisburg (10%), Hampden (6%) and Susquehanna (5%). Half commute less than 14 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

104 of 1,392 working residents

Typical commute

14 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

27 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

12%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 1,288 Penn residents head out of town to work, 104 work right here, and 1,469 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Penn.

1,288live here, work elsewhere

104live and work here

1,469work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Penn goes to work

Harrisburg9.6 mi away

10%141

Penn (in town)right here

7%104

Hampden7.1 mi away

6%78

Susquehanna9.2 mi away

5%69

Lower Paxton12.6 mi away

5%63

Lower Allen11.6 mi away

3%48

East Pennsboro7.1 mi away

3%43

Silver Spring7.2 mi away

3%41

Swatara14.3 mi away

3%35

South Middleton16.6 mi away

2%28

Everywhere elseother towns and states

53%742

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

How far

How far Penn commutes

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

26%

46%

11%

17%

26%Under 10 mi

46%10–24 mi

11%25–50 mi

17%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Penn is balanced between jobs and homes

1.13jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (1.13 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Penn are

1,573 jobs are based in Penn. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Penn’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Penn

1,573 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)4%

Trade, transport & utilities66%

Services (health, schools, offices…)30%

$1,250 a month or less20%

$1,251–$3,333 a month41%

Over $3,333 a month39%

Jobs Penn residents hold

1,392 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)14%

Trade, transport & utilities28%

Services (health, schools, offices…)59%

$1,250 a month or less13%

$1,251–$3,333 a month25%

Over $3,333 a month62%

+18%

Jobs based in Penn, 2013 → 2023: 1,329 → 1,573. 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.