Barden Cobblestone Farmhouse · Photo: Araucana · CC BY-SA 4.0At 0.9%, unemployment in Benton is lower than in 95% of U.S. towns
The two grades for Benton are C+ for jobs and income and B− for walkability. About one in ten work in Benton; the top destination outside it is Milo (25%, 8 miles). A typical one-way commute lasts 23 minutes (New York 33, U.S. 26).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Benton at work: what stands out
A lot of Benton works one town over
37% of working residents work in a town that borders Benton: Milo (25%), Jerusalem (6%) and Torrey (4%). Next door ↓
Commutes from Benton are quick
The average trip to work takes 23 minutes, against 33 across New York. That’s about 77 hours a year less on the road than the typical New York worker. Time on the road ↓
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; with 960 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Why Benton gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Benton is better than 44% of U.S. towns, #464 of 758 in New York. Unemployment holds Benton’s grade up; the poverty rate pulls it down (19.4%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Benton could be anywhere from C to B+.
From Benton, about 23 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Benton workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 941 commuters (the 12% 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 Benton, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 865 residents head out to work, 95 work right here, and 713 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 (0.84 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.
Where the trip to work from Benton ends
Where Benton clocks in
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.
Factories, building and farms: 30% of the jobs in Benton
808 jobs are based in Benton.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Benton, 2013 → 2023: 893 → 808. 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 Benton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Benton’s commute, mile by mile
About 19% 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.
In Benton, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Benton is more walkable than 54% of U.S. towns, #482 of 758 in New York. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 12.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 32.9% across New York, on an EPA index of 4.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,067 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). 17.0% of Benton households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Benton’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Benton is 2,597th of 4,771 U.S. towns of 2,100 to 4,100
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | East Williston NY | 2,616 | $215K | 2.3% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 10 | Lloyd Harbor NY | 3,587 | $250K | 2.1% | 0.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 46 | Great Neck Estates NY | 3,139 | $238K | 5.7% | 1.7% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,595 | Bridgeton Township MI | 2,329 | $62K | 10.5% | 1.6% | <1% | C+ |
| 2,596 | Franklin Township MI | 3,047 | $90K | 7.3% | 6.8% | 3% | C+ |
| 2,597 | Benton NY | 3,014 | $75K | 19.4% | 0.9% | 10% | C+ |
| 2,598 | La Paloma TX | 2,797 | $60K | 24.8% | 1.5% | <1% | C+ |
| 2,599 | Centerville TN | 3,589 | $59K | 9.6% | 1.5% | 24% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,771 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Benton, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
Work next door: 37% of Benton’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Benton workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Benton | – | C+ | B− | 23 min | $74,767 |
| Torrey | 4% | C+ | B− | 26 min | $95,500 |
| Milo | 25% | C+ | B+ | 16 min | $62,500 |
| Potter | under 2% | C | B− | 25 min | $67,344 |
| Seneca | 2% | A− | C+ | 27 min | $90,658 |
| Jerusalem | 6% | C+ | B | 24 min | $86,780 |
| Penn Yan | under 2% | C+ | A− | 14 min | $60,190 |
| Varick | under 2% | C | B− | 23 min | $80,250 |
| Romulus | under 2% | C− | D | 23 min | $69,447 |
| Geneva | under 2% | B− | D | 18 min | $82,589 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Milo. Darker towns draw more of Benton’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 Benton: questions
What is the median household income in Benton?
$74,767 (±$12,706) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Benton?
19.4%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Benton?
23 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Benton work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Milo (25%, 8 mi), Jerusalem (6%, 9 mi), Geneva (5%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Benton walkable?
Benton is more walkable than 54% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 4.2 out of 20, and 13% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Benton without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 17% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Benton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Benton
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.