Photo: Juliejules · CC BY 3.0Household incomes in Old Saybrook are higher than in 86% of U.S. towns
The two grades for Old Saybrook are A for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. 5.0% of residents live below the poverty line, against 10.0% across Connecticut. Working from home is the commute for 26% of workers, next to 16% for Connecticut as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Old Saybrook apart on work
Old Saybrook trades workers with the towns around it
Old Saybrook has about as many jobs (5,216) as working residents (4,481), but they are mostly different people: 3,667 residents leave for work each day while 4,402 people come in. Only 16% of the jobs in Old Saybrook are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
No single place dominates Old Saybrook’s commute
The biggest draw, New Haven, gets only 6% of working residents, and 51% work outside the top ten towns entirely. Old Saybrook residents fan out across the region. The commute map ↓
A lot of Old Saybrook works from home
26% of Old Saybrook workers work from home, against 16% across Connecticut. Time on the road ↓
Old Saybrook’s workforce skews older
37% of Old Saybrook’s working residents are 55 or older. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Income, poverty and work: Old Saybrook’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Old Saybrook is better than 87% of U.S. towns, #55 of 155 in Connecticut. Household income is its strongest input ($114,333, U.S. $80,734); job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 64% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Old Saybrook could be anywhere from B+ to A+.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 3,667 residents head out to work, 814 work right here, and 4,402 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 (1.16 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.
6% of working residents work in New Haven
Where Old Saybrook clocks in
6% of workers
4% of workers
4% 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.
A commute of about 29 minutes in Old Saybrook
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Old Saybrook workers work from home, vs 16% across Connecticut. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,816 commuters (the 26% 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.
The 5,216 jobs based in Old Saybrook
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Old Saybrook, 2013 → 2023: 5,085 → 5,216. 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 Old Saybrook’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Old Saybrook’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.
Few in Old Saybrook walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Old Saybrook is more walkable than 72% of U.S. towns, #66 of 155 in Connecticut. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.6% 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 5,171 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 75% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 75% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 3.8 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 79% 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). 3.2% of Old Saybrook households have no vehicle (Connecticut 8.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Old Saybrook’s commuters take a bus or train.
Old Saybrook next to U.S. towns of 7,000 to 14,000: 588th of 2,878 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 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 181 | Oxford CT | 13,311 | $129K | 4.0% | 2.3% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 220 | Granby CT | 11,963 | $120K | 3.2% | 2.3% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 245 | Prospect CT | 9,638 | $126K | 3.2% | 3.3% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 586 | Wood-Ridge NJ | 10,341 | $136K | 6.9% | 4.8% | 2% | A |
| 587 | Liberty Hill TX | 13,317 | $115K | 7.2% | 2.8% | 6% | A |
| 588 | Old Saybrook CT | 10,680 | $114K | 5.0% | 2.9% | 18% | A |
| 589 | Byram Township NJ | 8,249 | $139K | 2.5% | 4.9% | 4% | A |
| 590 | Munson Township OH | 7,078 | $139K | 2.4% | 4.6% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,878 | 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 Old Saybrook, the top three, the last and three more from Connecticut.
The towns around Old Saybrook
The biggest share goes to Essex (4%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Old Saybrook workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Old Saybrook | – | A | B+ | 29 min | $114,333 |
| Old Lyme | under 3% | A | A− | 27 min | $131,899 |
| Westbrook | 3% | A− | A | 21 min | $91,202 |
| Essex | 4% | A | A | 27 min | $104,395 |
| Essex Village | under 3% | — | — | 38 min | — |
| Westbrook Center | under 3% | — | — | 21 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Essex Village and Westbrook Center: Census-designated places inside larger towns, graded as part of them. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Old Saybrook’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 Old Saybrook: questions
What is the median household income in Old Saybrook?
$114,333 (±$16,577) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,781 across Connecticut and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Old Saybrook?
5.0%, against 10.0% across Connecticut and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Old Saybrook?
29 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Connecticut and 26 nationally. 26% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Old Saybrook work?
18% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are New Haven (6%, 28 mi), Hartford (4%, 36 mi), Essex (4%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Old Saybrook walkable?
Old Saybrook is more walkable than 72% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 12.6 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Old Saybrook without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 75% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Old Saybrook, from the people who make the trip.
More of Old Saybrook
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.