Photo: Doug Kerr from Albany, New York, United States · CC BY-SA 2.0With 0.3 jobs for every working resident, most of Athens works elsewhere
Only 4% work in Athens; the top destination outside it is Catskill (13%, 6 miles). There are 444 jobs in Athens, and 1,568 of its residents work somewhere. The two grades for Athens are B− for jobs and income and C+ for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Athens stands out on work
A lot of Athens works one town over
30% of working residents work in a town that borders Athens: Catskill (13%), Coxsackie (8%) and Hudson (6%). Next door ↓
Athens is a place people come home to
There are 444 jobs based in Athens, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Athens has about 2,800 people in it, 29% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
How Athens earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Athens is better than 46% of U.S. towns, #451 of 758 in New York. The poverty rate holds Athens’ grade up (6.6%, U.S. 12.5%); unemployment pulls it down (6.3%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Athens could be anywhere from C to B+.
Who leaves Athens for work, and who comes in
On a workday 1,508 residents head out to work, 60 work right here, and 384 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,800 people are in Athens on a workday afternoon, 29% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Commuting out of Athens: the destinations
Where Athens clocks in
11% of workers
9% 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.
67% of the jobs in Athens pay over $3,333 a month
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Athens, 2014 → 2024: 390 → 444. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Athens’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 29 minutes to work from Athens
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Athens workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,615 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.
Where in the region Athens works
About 24% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Driving is how Athens gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Athens is more walkable than 37% of U.S. towns, #602 of 758 in New York. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 2.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 32.9% across New York, on an EPA index of 5.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,919 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). 5.8% of Athens households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Athens’ commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 4,364 U.S. towns of 2,700 to 5,300, Athens comes 2,432nd on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 7 | Lloyd Harbor NY | 3,587 | $250K | 2.1% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 49 | Great Neck Estates NY | 3,139 | $238K | 5.7% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 108 | Pound Ridge NY | 5,057 | $250K | 4.5% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,430 | Harlem GA | 4,239 | $46K | 10.8% | 2.3% | 3% | B− |
| 2,431 | Canton TX | 5,070 | $51K | 11.7% | 0.7% | 19% | B− |
| 2,432 | Athens NY | 3,917 | $85K | 6.6% | 6.3% | 4% | B− |
| 2,433 | Knox Township OH | 3,914 | $71K | 11.8% | 4.0% | 5% | B− |
| 2,434 | Humboldt Hill CA | 3,551 | $72K | 15.0% | 2.6% | 6% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,364 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 19% | 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 Athens, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
Next door is work for 30% of Athens
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Athens workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Athens | – | B− | C+ | 29 min | $84,896 |
| Catskill | 13% | C | B+ | 28 min | $69,321 |
| Cairo | 3% | B | D | 29 min | $79,643 |
| Coxsackie | 8% | B− | C+ | 33 min | $88,188 |
| Greenport | under 3% | C− | A− | 19 min | — |
| South Cairo | under 3% | — | — | 17 min | — |
| Hudson | 6% | D | A | 27 min | $54,139 |
| Stockport | under 3% | B− | C | 28 min | $98,958 |
Same-state neighbors only. South Cairo: a Census-designated place inside a larger town, graded as part of it. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Catskill. Darker towns draw more of Athens’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 2024, 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 Athens: questions
What is the median household income in Athens?
$84,896 (±$13,989) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Athens?
6.6%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Athens?
29 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 Athens work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Catskill (13%, 6 mi), Albany (11%, 28 mi), New York City (9%, 111 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Athens walkable?
Athens is more walkable than 37% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 5.3 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Athens without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Athens, from the people who make the trip.
More of Athens
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.