Work & commute · Watts

Work & commute in Watts, PA

Most working residents leave Watts for work: only 1% work in town. The top destinations are Harrisburg (11%), Penn (7%) and Lower Paxton (5%). Half commute less than 16 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

8 of 539 working residents

Typical commute

16 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

31 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

28%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 531 Watts residents head out of town to work, 8 work right here, and 143 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Watts.

531live here, work elsewhere

8live and work here

143work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Watts goes to work

Harrisburg13.9 mi away

11%59

Penn7.6 mi away

7%39

Lower Paxton14.1 mi away

5%28

Hampden13.8 mi away

5%28

Swatara17.8 mi away

5%27

Susquehanna11.9 mi away

5%25

East Pennsboro12.4 mi away

3%18

Lower Allen17.7 mi away

3%17

Philadelphia102.9 mi away

2%12

Silver Spring14.8 mi away

2%11

Everywhere elseother towns and states

51%275

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

How far

How far Watts commutes

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

15%

59%

11%

15%

15%Under 10 mi

59%10–24 mi

11%25–50 mi

15%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Watts is a commuter town

0.28jobs per working resident

A commuter town

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

The jobs

What the jobs in Watts are

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

Jobs based in Watts

151 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)25%

Trade, transport & utilities26%

Services (health, schools, offices…)49%

$1,250 a month or less30%

$1,251–$3,333 a month38%

Over $3,333 a month31%

Jobs Watts residents hold

539 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)15%

Trade, transport & utilities27%

Services (health, schools, offices…)58%

$1,250 a month or less12%

$1,251–$3,333 a month22%

Over $3,333 a month66%

+122%

Jobs based in Watts, 2013 → 2023: 68 → 151. 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.