Quote:
Originally Posted by llamaorama
I think people who live in towns like that will drive long distances to find employment, and don't discount how many people schools and government services employ.
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Some drive long distances, but mostly, they don't really have to drive all that far. North Central PA (and PA in general) just has tons of old towns between 5000 and 20000 in population scattered throughout the hills that have all types of industries and many colleges.
Many of these very small north central PA towns were settled as company towns... lumber, railroad, bricks, mining, etc... so that's where most of the people once worked. Those companies have long since moved on, but the settlements still remain. There is tourism-focused commerce in some of the towns in the region, but people usually drive to larger towns and cities like Clearfield, Lock Haven, State College, Clarion, Williamsport, etc.