Photo: Mr. Matté (if there is an issue with this image, contact me using this image's Commons talk page, my Commons user talk page, or my English Wikipedia user talk page; I'll know about it a lot faster) · CC BY-SA 4.0Lake Como has higher unemployment (6.5%) than 78% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Lake Como B+; getting around on foot earns it A. For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 1.3 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 43.7 in Jersey City. Only 3% stay in Lake Como for work; outside it, Wall Township is the main destination (8%, 4 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Lake Como: the gist
Inside Lake Como’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Lake Como is better than 70% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Lake Como’s grade up (3.7%, U.S. 12.5%); unemployment pulls it down. It also does well on household income and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Lake Como could be anywhere from B− to A+.
The daily trip from Lake Como: about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lake Como workers work from home, vs 17% across New Jersey. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 769 commuters (the 14% who work from home are left out). Across New Jersey: 75% drive alone, 10% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Lake Como quiets down on a workday
On a workday 747 residents head out to work, 21 work right here, and 505 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,400 people are in Lake Como on a workday afternoon, 14% fewer than live here.
0.68 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
Out of Lake Como to work: where people go
Where Lake Como clocks in
8% of workers
7% 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.
71% of the jobs in Lake Como pay over $3,333 a month
526 jobs are based in Lake Como.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lake Como, 2013 → 2023: 294 → 526. 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 Lake Como’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute from Lake Como, by distance
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: Lake Como
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Lake Como is more walkable than 95% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 5.9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 13.2% across New Jersey.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 894 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 100% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 61% 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). 5.0% of Lake Como households have no vehicle (New Jersey 11.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Lake Como’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,300, Lake Como ranks 1,124th of 5,760 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 50 | Alpine NJ | 1,759 | $247K | 6.2% | 6.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 71 | Sea Girt NJ | 1,874 | $214K | 3.3% | 4.5% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 82 | Oldmans Township NJ | 1,954 | $113K | 3.2% | 11.1% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,122 | Watertown Township OH | 1,472 | $103K | 1.5% | 0.0% | 5% | B+ |
| 1,123 | Huston Township PA | 1,236 | $109K | 4.3% | 0.0% | 1% | B+ |
| 1,124 | Lake Como NJ | 1,677 | $82K | 3.7% | 6.5% | 3% | B+ |
| 1,125 | Heidelberg PA | 1,230 | $68K | 8.1% | 6.6% | 4% | B+ |
| 1,126 | Hazelton Township MI | 2,032 | $81K | 7.6% | 2.0% | 3% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,760 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | 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 Lake Como, the top three, the last and three more from New Jersey.
The towns around Lake Como
The biggest share goes to Belmar (4%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Lake Como workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Como | – | B+ | A | 26 min | $82,045 |
| Spring Lake | under 3% | A+ | A+ | 33 min | $215,625 |
| Belmar | 4% | B | A+ | 32 min | $93,573 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Lake Como’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 Lake Como: questions
What is the median household income in Lake Como?
$82,045 (±$20,913) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,556 across New Jersey and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lake Como?
3.7%, against 9.7% across New Jersey and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lake Como?
26 minutes each way on average, against 31 across New Jersey and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lake Como work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Wall Township (8%, 4 mi), New York City (7%, 34 mi), Belmar (4%, 1 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lake Como walkable?
Lake Como is more walkable than 95% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 15.9 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lake Como without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 100% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lake Como, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lake Como
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.