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Work & commute in West Carroll · A commuter town

98% of West Carroll’s working residents leave town for work

Most working residents leave West Carroll for work: only 2% work in town. The top destinations are Cambria (7%), Altoona (6%) and Johnstown (5%). Half commute less than 20 miles.

Work in town
2%
9 of 518 working residents
Typical commute
20 mi
half travel less, straight-line
Time each way
19 min
Less than PA (26 min)
Work from home
6%
Less than PA (16%)
Jobs based here
205
A commuter town

What kind of work town is West Carroll?

Read from the numbers below. The page puts what stands out first.

★ What stands out · The commute map

7% of working residents work in Cambria

A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.

Carrolltown: 26 residents work here (5%)PattonEbensburg: 24 residents work here (5%)Northern Cambria: 19 residents work here (4%)Johnstown: 27 residents work here (5%)Altoona: 30 residents work here (6%)ClearfieldGreenLogan: 12 residents work here (2%)Cambria: 34 residents work here (7%)East Carroll: 18 residents work here (3%)SusquehannaRichland: 12 residents work here (2%)West CarrollWhite: 13 residents work here (3%)BarrCambriaAltoonaJohnstownCarrolltownEbensburgNorthern CambriaWest Carroll
1
Cambria7.9 mi away
7%34
2
Altoona18.9 mi away
6%30
3
Johnstown21.8 mi away
5%27
4
Carrolltown1.5 mi away
5%26
5
Ebensburg8.3 mi away
5%24
64%19
7
East Carroll2.9 mi away
3%18
8
White20.5 mi away
3%13
9
Logan17.2 mi away
2%12
10
Richland23 mi away
2%12
Everywhere elseother towns and states
58%303
The top trips

Where West Carroll clocks in

Lines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.

Time on the road

About 19 minutes each way, quicker than most of Pennsylvania

From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.

A year of commuting
142 hours

Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.9 full days in the car, bus or train.

Average commute minutes, one way

West Carroll19 min
Pennsylvania26 min
U.S.26 min
Working from home
6%

of West Carroll workers work from home, vs 16% across Pennsylvania. Their commute is the hallway.

About 1 in 10
The jobs

West Carroll makes things: 29% of its jobs are in goods

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

Jobs based in West CarrollJobs West Carroll residents hold

What kind of work

Goods: factories, building, farms29%14%
Trade, transport & utilities6%24%
Services: health, schools, offices64%62%

What it pays

$1,250 a month or less18%20%
$1,251–$3,333 a month41%30%
Over $3,333 a month41%50%

Who does it

29 or younger23%23%
30 to 5445%49%
55 and older31%28%
−48%

Jobs based in West Carroll, 2013 → 2023: 394 → 205. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.

Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.

Day and night

West Carroll quiets down on a workday

On a workday 509 residents head out to work, 9 work right here, and 196 people come in from elsewhere.

509live here, work elsewhere
9live and work here
196work here, live elsewhere
Night and day
At night1,300
Workday960
1,300live here− 510head out to work+ 200come in to work= 960on a workday

About 960 people are in West Carroll on a workday afternoon, 25% fewer than live here.

Job hub or commuter town?
0.40jobs per workerCommuter townJob hub

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

Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.

How far

Half of West Carroll commutes less than 20 miles

Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

10 mi25 mi30 miCambria: 7% · 7.9 miAltoona: 6% · 18.9 miJohnstown: 5% · 21.8 miCarrolltown: 5% · 1.5 miEbensburg: 5% · 8.3 miNorthern Cambria: 4% · 4 miEast Carroll: 3% · 2.9 miWhite: 3% · 20.5 miLogan: 2% · 17.2 miRichland: 2% · 23 miCambria 7%Altoona 6%Johnstown 5%Carrolltown 5%Ebensburg 5%West Carroll
West CarrollTop destinations (size = commuters)
28%Under 10 mi147 residents
38%10–24 mi199 residents
10%25–50 mi54 residents
23%Over 50 mi118 residents

About 23% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.

Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.

Next door

15% of West Carroll works in a bordering town

The biggest share goes to Cambria (7%). Darker towns draw more of West Carroll’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.

How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

  • Every worker, home to work. The 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 says. A 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 surveys. Flows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: the Census American Community Survey.
  • Straight lines. Distances are as the crow flies between home and work. Roads, rivers and traffic make the real trip longer.
Beyond the commute

More of West Carroll

West Carroll home →

Commuter talk

Getting to work from West Carroll, from the people who make the trip.

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Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer.

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