Photo: TonyTheTiger · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Amherst top those of 72% of U.S. towns
Amherst grades A− for jobs and income and A− for walkability. 10.1% of residents live below the poverty line (New York 14.0%). Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 3.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 12.2 in Buffalo.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Amherst apart on work
Commutes from Amherst are quick
The average trip to work takes 20 minutes, against 33 across New York. That’s about 100 hours a year less on the road than the typical New York worker. Time on the road ↓
A lot of Amherst works one town over
39% of working residents work in a town that borders Amherst: Buffalo (24%), Cheektowaga (7%) and Tonawanda (5%). Next door ↓
Amherst is where the jobs are
Amherst has 90,313 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Most Amherst residents work close to home
68% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. How far ↓
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.
The figures behind Amherst’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Amherst is better than 77% of U.S. towns, #194 of 758 in New York. Job access by car holds Amherst’s grade up (ahead of 87% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down. It also does well on household income and unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Amherst could be anywhere from B+ to A−.
How long Amherst spends getting to work: about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Amherst workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 53,143 commuters (the 16% who work from home are left out). Across New York: 57% drive alone, 25% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Amherst fills up on a workday
On a workday 37,299 residents head out to work, 16,227 work right here, and 74,086 people come in from elsewhere.
About 167,000 people are in Amherst on a workday afternoon, 28% more than live here.
1.7 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.
Half of Amherst commutes less than 7 miles
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.
Where the people who work in Amherst live
Where Amherst clocks in
24% 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.
The kinds of work in Amherst
90,313 jobs are based in Amherst.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Amherst, 2013 → 2023: 97,990 → 90,313. 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 Amherst’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Amherst
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Amherst is more walkable than 85% of U.S. towns, #235 of 758 in New York. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 4.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 32.9% across New York.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 63,200 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 63% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 6% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 3.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 76% 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). 7.0% of Amherst households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Amherst’s commuters take a bus or train.
These are town averages; neighborhoods differ.
Amherst next to U.S. towns of 91,000 to 176,000: 73rd of 295 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carmel IN | 105,634 | $142K | 3.9% | 2.7% | 23% | A+ |
| 2 | Clay Township IN | 104,932 | $142K | 3.9% | 2.7% | 23% | A+ |
| 3 | Fishers IN | 104,812 | $130K | 4.0% | 2.8% | 14% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 7 | Smithtown NY | 116,847 | $153K | 4.2% | 3.9% | 16% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 34 | Greenburgh NY | 94,537 | $152K | 5.8% | 5.2% | 13% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 71 | Torrance CA | 138,391 | $116K | 7.8% | 6.0% | 18% | A− |
| 72 | Folsom CA | 91,983 | $140K | 5.3% | 6.3% | 21% | A− |
| 73 | Amherst NY | 130,442 | $93K | 10.1% | 3.3% | 30% | A− |
| 74 | Renton WA | 104,975 | $100K | 8.1% | 4.9% | 12% | A− |
| 75 | Nashua NH | 92,435 | $96K | 7.8% | 4.2% | 29% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 154 | Greece NY | 94,484 | $80K | 10.6% | 5.1% | 16% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 295 | Macon-Bibb County GA | 157,556 | $51K | 24.7% | 8.1% | 53% | 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 Amherst, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
Amherst and its neighbors: 39% work next door
The biggest share goes to Buffalo (24%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Amherst workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amherst | – | A− | A− | 20 min | $93,483 |
| Pendleton | under 2% | A− | D | 23 min | $113,750 |
| Cheektowaga | 7% | B | A | 20 min | $69,239 |
| Buffalo | 24% | C− | A+ | 20 min | $50,041 |
| North Tonawanda | under 2% | B− | A− | 20 min | $66,961 |
| Tonawanda Town | under 2% | — | — | 21 min | — |
| Tonawanda | 5% | B+ | A | 21 min | $77,673 |
| Wheatfield | under 2% | A− | C+ | 23 min | $93,682 |
| Clarence | 3% | A− | B | 23 min | $124,800 |
| Harris Hill | under 2% | — | — | 18 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Tonawanda Town and Harris Hill: 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 Amherst’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 Amherst: questions
What is the median household income in Amherst?
$93,483 (±$2,490) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Amherst?
10.1%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Amherst?
20 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 16% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Amherst work?
30% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Buffalo (24%, 10 mi), Cheektowaga (7%, 7 mi), Tonawanda (5%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Amherst walkable?
Amherst is more walkable than 85% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 10.8 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Amherst without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. 6% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Amherst, from the people who make the trip.
More of Amherst
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.