Photo: Tysto · Public domainThere are 1.8 jobs in Syracuse for every working resident, and 2,451 people commute in
For jobs and income Syracuse is better than 77% of U.S. towns (A−); for walkability it is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns (A−). Syracuse has 2,659 jobs; 1,506 of its residents have a job. About one in seven work in Syracuse; the top destination outside it is Goshen (13%, 11 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Syracuse stands out on work
Syracuse makes and builds things
64% of the jobs based in Syracuse are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Syracuse residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 50%. The jobs ↓
Syracuse is where the jobs are
Syracuse has 2,659 jobs, 1.8 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Syracuse are quick
The average trip to work takes 19 minutes, against 24 across Indiana. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical Indiana worker. Time on the road ↓
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.
What’s behind Syracuse’s Jobs & income grade
Unemployment holds Syracuse’s grade up (1.8%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($71,833, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Syracuse could be anywhere from B− to A.
Goods, not services: 64% of the jobs in Syracuse
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Syracuse, 2013 → 2023: 2,278 → 2,659. 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 Syracuse’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who leaves Syracuse for work, and who comes in
On a workday 1,298 residents head out to work and 208 work right here.
About 4,400 people are in Syracuse on a workday afternoon, 36% more than live here.
1.8 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Getting to work from Syracuse takes about 19 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Syracuse workers work from home, vs 11% across Indiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,781 commuters (the 4% who work from home are left out). Across Indiana: 85% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Commuting in to Syracuse: where workers come from
Where Syracuse clocks in
13% of workers
9% of workers
8% 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.
How far Syracuse goes to work
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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Syracuse
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,859 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 4.1% of Syracuse households have no vehicle (Indiana 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Syracuse’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 2,300 to 4,400, Syracuse ranks 943rd of 4,453 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 76 | Clark Township IN | 3,026 | $138K | 5.2% | 0.0% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 90 | Milan Township IN | 4,066 | $120K | 1.3% | 0.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 127 | Georgetown IN | 3,855 | $113K | 2.1% | 1.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 941 | Manheim Township PA | 3,555 | $115K | 9.9% | 1.8% | 3% | A− |
| 942 | Lower Chanceford Township PA | 3,117 | $106K | 7.5% | 1.6% | 4% | A− |
| 943 | Syracuse IN | 3,238 | $72K | 4.2% | 1.8% | 14% | A− |
| 944 | Green Garden Township IL | 3,851 | $134K | 3.0% | 10.5% | 5% | A− |
| 945 | Colden NY | 3,172 | $98K | 10.0% | 0.8% | 5% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,453 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Syracuse, the top three, the last and three more from Indiana.
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 Syracuse: questions
What is the median household income in Syracuse?
$71,833 (±$14,504) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,957 across Indiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Syracuse?
4.2%, against 12.3% across Indiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Syracuse?
19 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Indiana and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Syracuse work?
14% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Goshen (13%, 11 mi), Elkhart (9%, 22 mi), Warsaw (8%, 13 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Syracuse walkable?
Syracuse is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.9 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Syracuse without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Syracuse, from the people who make the trip.
More of Syracuse
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.