Photo: Pubdog · Public domainHousehold incomes in Batavia trail those of 75% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 14.2% of residents, next to 14.0% for New York as a whole. Jobs and income earn Batavia C; getting around on foot earns it A−. At home: 5% of workers have no commute at all (New York 15%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Batavia, in brief
Commutes from Batavia are quick
The average trip to work takes 21 minutes, against 33 across New York. That’s about 92 hours a year less on the road than the typical New York worker. Time on the road ↓
Batavia trades workers with the towns around it
Batavia has about as many jobs (8,025) as working residents (6,895), but they are mostly different people: 5,078 residents leave for work each day while 6,208 people come in. Only 23% of the jobs in Batavia are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
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.
How Batavia earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Batavia is better than 32% of U.S. towns, #569 of 758 in New York. Job access by car holds Batavia’s grade up (ahead of 62% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($59,446, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Batavia could be anywhere from C− to B−.
About 21 minutes each way, quicker than most of New York
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Batavia workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 6,708 commuters (the 5% 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.
Who works in Batavia, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 5,078 residents head out to work, 1,817 work right here, and 6,208 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.16 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
11% of working residents work in Batavia
Where Batavia clocks in
11% of workers
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.
Inside Batavia’s 8,025 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Batavia, 2013 → 2023: 8,686 → 8,025. 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 Batavia’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Near or far: the trip to work from Batavia
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: Batavia
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Batavia is more walkable than 85% of U.S. towns, #236 of 758 in New York. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 8.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 32.9% across New York, on an EPA index of 8.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 7,058 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). 14.4% of Batavia households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Batavia’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 11,000 to 20,000, Batavia ranks 1,536th of 1,969 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 46 | Floral Park NY | 16,105 | $150K | 3.0% | 3.1% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 67 | North Castle NY | 12,360 | $208K | 3.8% | 3.1% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 95 | Victor NY | 16,422 | $116K | 2.8% | 1.6% | 16% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,534 | Radford VA | 17,243 | $57K | 28.7% | 8.1% | 21% | C |
| 1,535 | Dallas GA | 15,402 | $76K | 16.3% | 8.3% | 4% | C |
| 1,536 | Batavia NY | 15,168 | $59K | 14.2% | 5.5% | 26% | C |
| 1,537 | Mount Pleasant TX | 16,225 | $51K | 18.3% | 2.5% | 52% | C |
| 1,538 | Cheney WA | 12,650 | $55K | 31.3% | 13.1% | 17% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 1,969 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Batavia, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
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 Batavia: questions
What is the median household income in Batavia?
$59,446 (±$5,973) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Batavia?
14.2%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Batavia?
21 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Batavia work?
26% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Batavia (11%, 2 mi), Rochester (6%, 31 mi), Amherst (5%, 29 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Batavia walkable?
Batavia is more walkable than 85% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.0 out of 20, and 9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Batavia without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 14% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Batavia, from the people who make the trip.
More of Batavia
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.