Nestable and Stackable Pallets: Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania, by road

Pennsylvania is a place where the Pennsylvania Turnpike, I-78 and I-81 give it more warehouse corridors than any other eastern state. Pallets here follow I-76, I-78, I-80, I-81, I-83 and I-95, and the distance they travel empty is the cost a nestable cuts.

The counties with the most warehousing jobs are Luzerne (13,602), Cumberland (12,506) and Lehigh (9,774), which is 29.1 percent of the state's 123,481. It shares a land border with New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia and Ohio.

Warehousing in numbers

Refrigerated space matters because a freezer is hard on plastic; the cold guide says what to ask for. Pennsylvania held 228 million cubic feet of gross refrigerated warehouse capacity on October 1, 2025.

Reading the numbers

• Luzerne County has 13,602 warehousing jobs, 11.0 percent of Pennsylvania's 123,481, the most in the state.
• Cumberland County has 12,506 warehousing jobs, 10.1 percent of Pennsylvania's 123,481, 1,096 fewer than Luzerne County.
• Lehigh County has 9,774 warehousing jobs, 7.9 percent of Pennsylvania's 123,481, 3,828 fewer than Luzerne County.
• Warehousing and storage employs 123,481 people in Pennsylvania, 1.00 for every warehousing job.
• Plastics product manufacturing employs 34,094 people in Pennsylvania, 0.28 for every warehousing job.
• Pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing employs 20,358 people in Pennsylvania, 0.16 for every warehousing job.
• Refrigerated warehousing employs 4,102 people in Pennsylvania, 0.03 for every warehousing job.
• Pennsylvania holds 6.49 percent of US warehousing jobs, about one in every 15, spread over 1,162 establishments averaging 106 jobs each.
• Lehigh Valley accounts for 19,122 warehousing jobs, 15.5 percent of Pennsylvania's.
• Harrisburg accounts for 17,241 warehousing jobs, 14.0 percent of Pennsylvania's.
• Philadelphia accounts for 38,250 warehousing jobs, 31.0 percent of Pennsylvania's.
• Pittsburgh accounts for 9,826 warehousing jobs, 8.0 percent of Pennsylvania's.
• Lancaster accounts for 6,994 warehousing jobs, 5.7 percent of Pennsylvania's.
• Scranton-Wilkes-Barre accounts for 18,912 warehousing jobs, 15.3 percent of Pennsylvania's.
• New York has 55,371 warehousing jobs, 0.45 times the 123,481 in Pennsylvania.
• New Jersey has 76,152 warehousing jobs, 0.62 times the 123,481 in Pennsylvania.
• Delaware has 12,495 warehousing jobs, 0.10 times the 123,481 in Pennsylvania.
• Maryland has 29,966 warehousing jobs, 0.24 times the 123,481 in Pennsylvania.

Who ships pallets here

In Pennsylvania, warehousing and storage employs 123,481. Most of the demand is for general pallets in the common footprint, with the choice split between rack service and block stacking. It tends to lean on rackable where the pallet lives on beams, stackable for block stacking, nestable for the empties that go back, usually in 48 x 40 in, and to ask about the racking load, and the beam span it was rated on.

Warehousing and storage is the trade where Pennsylvania is most concentrated, at 1.6 times the national share of employment. A buyer in that trade will tend to ask the questions in the last column first.

The empty return

An illustration, not a forecast: if each of 1,162 warehouse establishments in Pennsylvania sent back 800 empty pallets in a week, that would be 929,600 pallets. The table counts the 53 ft trailers that takes at three makers' published nestable figures, beside the 540 per trailer of a rackable.

Next door

Metros in Pennsylvania with their own page: Lehigh Valley, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Lancaster and Scranton-Wilkes-Barre.

Words on this page

Intermodal

Freight that changes between truck, rail and ship in the same container.

Nest ratio

How many empty pallets fit in the height of one: pallet height divided by nest increment.

Beam span

The open gap between two rack beams. The longer the span, the lower the load the pallet can carry across it.

Closed deck

A solid deck that keeps small items and torn bags from falling through and wipes clean on top.

RFID tag

A small radio tag moulded into or attached to a pallet so readers can track it through a plant or a loop.

Cruciform base

A base shaped like a plus sign under the pallet, which gives a stable footprint and slides well on conveyors.

CP9

A chemical industry pallet standard, 1140 by 1140 millimetres, about 45 by 45 inches.

One-way pallet

A light pallet built to carry cargo to a destination and stay there, often used in export.

QCEW

The Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, a Bureau of Labor Statistics count of jobs and establishments taken from unemployment insurance records.