Photo: Public domain · Public domainMost of Brooklyn commutes out: there are 0.4 jobs for every working resident
About one in ten work in Brooklyn itself; outside it, Killingly draws the most (15%, 6 miles). 1,424 jobs are based in Brooklyn for 3,836 working residents. Brooklyn grades B+ for jobs and income and C− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Brooklyn apart on work
Inside Brooklyn’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Brooklyn is better than 73% of U.S. towns, #102 of 155 in Connecticut. The poverty rate holds Brooklyn’s grade up (2.3%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 42% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Brooklyn could be anywhere from B− to A.
Where Brooklyn’s working residents head each day
Where Brooklyn clocks in
15% of workers
7% of workers
5% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Who leaves Brooklyn for work, and who comes in
On a workday 3,507 residents head out to work, 329 work right here, and 1,095 people come in from elsewhere.
About 6,300 people are in Brooklyn on a workday afternoon, 28% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
The kinds of work in Brooklyn
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Brooklyn, 2013 → 2023: 1,126 → 1,424. 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.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Brooklyn’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting from Brooklyn: about 27 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Brooklyn workers work from home, vs 16% across Connecticut. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,316 commuters (the 11% who work from home are left out). Across Connecticut: 82% drive alone, 4% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
How far Brooklyn’s workers travel
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Brooklyn is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Brooklyn is more walkable than 19% of U.S. towns, #144 of 155 in Connecticut. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 7.1% across Connecticut.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 3,713 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 4.2% of Brooklyn households have no vehicle (Connecticut 8.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Brooklyn’s commuters take a bus or train.
Brooklyn is 1,023rd of 2,927 U.S. towns of 6,100 to 11,800 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 3 | Pimmit Hills VA | 6,589 | $173K | 1.6% | 1.3% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 253 | Prospect CT | 9,638 | $126K | 3.2% | 3.3% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 308 | Durham CT | 7,209 | $159K | 3.4% | 3.6% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 320 | Portland CT | 9,449 | $119K | 3.9% | 3.3% | 9% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,021 | Boonton NJ | 8,920 | $114K | 8.1% | 6.9% | 6% | B+ |
| 1,022 | Mentor-on-the-Lake OH | 7,120 | $67K | 8.5% | 1.9% | 2% | B+ |
| 1,023 | Brooklyn CT | 8,748 | $96K | 2.3% | 4.2% | 9% | B+ |
| 1,024 | Kechi Township KS | 10,931 | $78K | 10.5% | 2.3% | 4% | B+ |
| 1,025 | Tracyton WA | 6,137 | $104K | 9.1% | 2.1% | 2% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,927 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Brooklyn, the top three, the last and three more from Connecticut.
Work next door: 20% of Brooklyn’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Brooklyn workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brooklyn | – | B+ | C− | 27 min | $96,207 |
| Killingly | 15% | C | C | 28 min | $84,350 |
| Plainfield | 5% | B− | C+ | 27 min | $76,993 |
| Danielson | under 3% | D | B | 28 min | $64,050 |
| Pomfret | under 3% | B | B− | 24 min | $108,476 |
| Hampton | under 3% | A− | D | 29 min | $109,167 |
| Canterbury | under 3% | A− | D | 32 min | $103,198 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Killingly. Darker towns draw more of Brooklyn’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Brooklyn: questions
What is the median household income in Brooklyn?
$96,207 (±$15,043) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,781 across Connecticut and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Brooklyn?
2.3%, against 10.0% across Connecticut and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Brooklyn?
27 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Connecticut and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Brooklyn work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Killingly (15%, 6 mi), Putnam (7%, 10 mi), Plainfield (5%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Brooklyn walkable?
Brooklyn is more walkable than 19% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.0 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Brooklyn without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Brooklyn, from the people who make the trip.
More of Brooklyn
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. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.