Work & commute · Portland

Work & commute in Portland, PA

Most working residents leave Portland for work: only 2% work in town. The top destinations are Upper Mount Bethel (11%), Washington (5%) and Forks (4%). Half commute less than 16 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

3 of 194 working residents

Typical commute

16 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

35 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 191 Portland residents head out of town to work, 3 work right here, and 238 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Portland.

191live here, work elsewhere

3live and work here

238work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Portland goes to work

Upper Mount Bethel2.4 mi away

11%22

Washington7.1 mi away

5%9

Forks14.6 mi away

4%7

Bangor6.9 mi away

3%6

East Stroudsburg6.9 mi away

3%6

Philadelphia63.1 mi away

3%6

White, NJ7.8 mi away

3%6

South Whitehall31.4 mi away

3%6

Phillipsburg, NJ16.4 mi away

3%5

Stroud8 mi away

3%5

Everywhere elseother towns and states

60%116

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

How far

How far Portland commutes

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

36%

25%

22%

17%

36%Under 10 mi

25%10–24 mi

22%25–50 mi

17%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Portland is balanced between jobs and homes

1.24jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (1.24 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Portland are

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

Jobs based in Portland

241 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)85%

Trade, transport & utilities3%

Services (health, schools, offices…)12%

$1,250 a month or less12%

$1,251–$3,333 a month13%

Over $3,333 a month75%

Jobs Portland residents hold

194 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)26%

Trade, transport & utilities19%

Services (health, schools, offices…)56%

$1,250 a month or less15%

$1,251–$3,333 a month31%

Over $3,333 a month54%

+121%

Jobs based in Portland, 2013 → 2023: 109 → 241. 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.