Photo: N-Lange.de · CC BY-SA 3.0Most of Bergen commutes out: there are 0.4 jobs for every working resident
Bergen has 223 jobs, and 519 of its residents work somewhere. The two grades for Bergen are B for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. Only 3% work in Bergen itself; outside it, Rochester draws the most (13%, 18 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Bergen
Jobs & income in Bergen: the grade in detail
On income, poverty and job access, Bergen is better than 59% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Bergen’s grade up (ahead of 73% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (14.9%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (2.3%) is left out: Bergen’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Bergen could be anywhere from C+ to A−.
The daily trip from Bergen: about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bergen workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 695 commuters (the 8% 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.
In and out of Bergen on a workday
On a workday 501 residents head out to work, 18 work right here, and 205 people come in from elsewhere.
About 950 people are in Bergen on a workday afternoon, 24% 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 2023, primary jobs.
The towns that employ Bergen’s residents
Where Bergen clocks in
13% of workers
9% of workers
7% 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.
Jobs in Bergen: what the 223 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bergen, 2013 → 2023: 231 → 223. 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 Bergen’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Bergen goes to work
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.
Driving is how Bergen gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Bergen is more walkable than 72% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 5.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 32.9% across New York, on an EPA index of 7.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 758 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). 4.2% of Bergen households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Bergen’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 4,866 U.S. towns of 900 to 1,700, Bergen comes 1,251st on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 4 | Saddle Rock NY | 1,008 | $176K | 0.8% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,249 | Upper Bern Township PA | 1,613 | $82K | 7.5% | 4.7% | 1% | B |
| 1,250 | Lincoln Township SD | 1,159 | $79K | 11.9% | 0.0% | <1% | B |
| 1,251 | Bergen NY | 1,242 | $89K | 14.9% | 2.3% | 3% | B |
| 1,252 | Niles Township IN | 1,387 | $66K | 1.0% | 0.7% | 1% | B |
| 1,253 | Harrison Township IN | 1,578 | $75K | 12.0% | 0.0% | 1% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 4,866 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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 Bergen, 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 Bergen: questions
What is the median household income in Bergen?
$88,906 (±$22,038) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bergen?
14.9%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bergen?
22 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bergen work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Rochester (13%, 18 mi), Bergen (9%, 1 mi), Batavia (7%, 13 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Bergen walkable?
Bergen is more walkable than 72% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bergen without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Bergen, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bergen
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.