Work and commuting in Ashford
Only 7% stay in Ashford for work; outside it, Concord is the main destination (13%, 6 miles). Jobs and income earn Ashford C+; getting around on foot earns it C. Home is the office for 7% of workers, next to 15% for New York as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Ashford, in brief
The figures behind Ashford’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Ashford is better than 41% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Ashford’s grade up (6.4%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down. It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (1.3%) is left out: Ashford’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Ashford could be anywhere from C− to B.
Services make up most of the work in Ashford
506 jobs are based in Ashford.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ashford, 2013 → 2023: 425 → 506. 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 Ashford’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In and out of Ashford on a workday
On a workday 647 residents head out to work, 47 work right here, and 459 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,700 people are in Ashford on a workday afternoon, 10% fewer than live here.
0.73 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.
Where people from Ashford work
Where Ashford clocks in
6% 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.
From Ashford, about 30 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ashford workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 751 commuters (the 7% 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.
How far Ashford’s workers travel
About 16% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
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.
Getting around Ashford: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Ashford is more walkable than 33% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 32.9% across New York, on an EPA index of 3.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 808 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 2.3% of Ashford households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Ashford’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ashford next to U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,600: 2,873rd of 5,921 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 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 4 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | Atlantic Beach NY | 1,723 | $166K | 1.8% | 3.1% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,871 | Canton Township PA | 2,075 | $78K | 6.1% | 5.4% | 12% | C+ |
| 2,872 | Lakewood Club MI | 1,345 | $72K | 11.4% | 2.1% | <1% | C+ |
| 2,873 | Ashford NY | 1,918 | $78K | 6.4% | 1.3% | 7% | C+ |
| 2,874 | Bradley WI | 2,425 | $76K | 6.3% | 1.6% | 9% | C+ |
| 2,875 | Grand Canyon Village AZ | 1,599 | $73K | 13.2% | 1.5% | 18% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,921 | 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 Ashford, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
Work next door: 18% of Ashford’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Ashford workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ashford | – | C+ | C | 30 min | $77,558 |
| Concord | 13% | B | C+ | 27 min | $78,594 |
| East Otto | under 2% | — | — | 33 min | — |
| Sardinia | under 2% | B− | C | 30 min | $84,583 |
| Yorkshire | under 2% | C− | C | 27 min | $48,097 |
| Ellicottville | 5% | C+ | B+ | 23 min | $71,200 |
| Machias | under 2% | C | C− | 24 min | $59,485 |
Same-state neighbors only. East Otto: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Concord. Darker towns draw more of Ashford’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 Ashford: questions
What is the median household income in Ashford?
$77,558 (±$10,597) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ashford?
6.4%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ashford?
30 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ashford work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Concord (13%, 6 mi), Little Valley (6%, 17 mi), Ellicottville (5%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Ashford walkable?
Ashford is more walkable than 33% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 3.4 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ashford without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Ashford, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ashford
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.