Sterling Opera House · Photo: Own work · CC BY-SA 3.0More people are out of work in Derby (5.6%) than in 69% of U.S. towns
The average commute, 27 minutes each way, matches the Connecticut norm. Derby grades B for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. Only 6% work in Derby itself; outside it, New Haven draws the most (9%, 8 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Derby in brief
How Derby earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Derby is better than 58% of U.S. towns, #122 of 155 in Connecticut. Job access by car holds Derby’s grade up (ahead of 89% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down. It also does well on household income.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Derby could be anywhere from C+ to A.
A workday in Derby: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 4,788 residents head out to work, 331 work right here, and 4,225 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.89 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Where Derby goes to work
Where Derby clocks in
9% of workers
9% of workers
7% 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.
The kinds of work in Derby
4,556 jobs are based in Derby.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Derby, 2013 → 2023: 4,524 → 4,556. 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 Derby’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Derby, about 27 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Derby workers work from home, vs 16% across Connecticut. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,600 commuters (the 15% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Derby
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.
For most of Derby, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Derby is more walkable than 70% of U.S. towns, #69 of 155 in Connecticut. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.8% 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 6,595 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 65% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 21% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 6.2 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 87% 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). 8.1% of Derby households have no vehicle (Connecticut 8.8%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Derby’s commuters take a bus or train.
Derby is 1,270th of 2,354 U.S. towns of 9,000 to 17,000 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 140 | Ellington CT | 16,594 | $130K | 2.4% | 2.7% | 10% | A+ |
| 141 | Tolland CT | 14,752 | $133K | 5.3% | 1.2% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 154 | Colchester CT | 15,825 | $122K | 3.9% | 1.7% | 16% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,268 | Leoni Township MI | 13,764 | $77K | 10.4% | 3.8% | 10% | B |
| 1,269 | Jefferson Township OH | 13,804 | $70K | 11.5% | 1.6% | 33% | B |
| 1,270 | Derby CT | 12,925 | $80K | 10.8% | 5.6% | 6% | B |
| 1,271 | Sun Lakes AZ | 13,924 | $68K | 9.4% | 4.5% | 4% | B |
| 1,272 | Summerfield MD | 15,065 | $91K | 12.9% | 6.7% | 1% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 2,354 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Derby, the top three, the last and three more from Connecticut.
Work next door: 12% of Derby’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Derby workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Derby | – | B | B+ | 27 min | $79,500 |
| Ansonia | under 3% | B− | A− | 27 min | $85,877 |
| Orange | 3% | A+ | B | 28 min | $142,325 |
| Shelton | 9% | A− | B− | 30 min | $108,185 |
| Seymour | under 3% | A− | B+ | 32 min | $107,708 |
| Woodbridge | under 3% | A− | C+ | 25 min | $188,750 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Shelton. Darker towns draw more of Derby’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 Derby: questions
What is the median household income in Derby?
$79,500 (±$11,458) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,781 across Connecticut and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Derby?
10.8%, against 10.0% across Connecticut and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Derby?
27 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Connecticut and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Derby work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are New Haven (9%, 8 mi), Shelton (9%, 3 mi), Stratford (7%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Derby walkable?
Derby is more walkable than 70% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 11.2 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Derby without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. 21% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Derby, from the people who make the trip.
More of Derby
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.