Photo: Hayden Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Unemployment in Brewster (2.3%) is lower than in 80% of U.S. towns
Brewster grades B for jobs and income and A+ for walkability. Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 4.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 79.0 in New York City. For 5% of workers, the job is at home, against 15% across New York.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Brewster and work: the main findings
Brewster’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Brewster is New York City, 53 miles away as the crow flies. 26% of working residents (276) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Commutes from Brewster 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 ↓
Brewster has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Brewster went from 479 in 2013 to 675 in 2023, +41%. The jobs ↓
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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Brewster
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Brewster is better than 58% of U.S. towns, #350 of 758 in New York. Unemployment holds Brewster’s grade up; the poverty rate pulls it down (14.4%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on job access by car.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Brewster could be anywhere from C to A.
How far it is to work from Brewster
About 15% 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.
From Brewster, about 23 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Brewster workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,335 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.
What Brewster’s employers do
675 jobs are based in Brewster.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Brewster, 2013 → 2023: 479 → 675. 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 Brewster’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many people are in Brewster by day
On a workday 1,007 residents head out to work, 43 work right here, and 632 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,100 people are in Brewster on a workday afternoon, 15% fewer than live here.
0.64 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.
26% of working residents work in New York City
Where Brewster clocks in
26% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Brewster
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Brewster is among the most walkable U.S. towns, #43 of 758 in New York. Both inputs place Brewster near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,409 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 4.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 80% 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). 21.9% of Brewster households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 4% of Brewster’s commuters take a bus or train.
Brewster is 1,760th of 4,868 U.S. towns of 1,800 to 3,400 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 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6 | Old Brookville NY | 2,098 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | East Williston NY | 2,616 | $215K | 2.3% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 10 | Laurel Hollow NY | 1,949 | $250K | 3.5% | 2.2% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,758 | Park Township MI | 2,374 | $79K | 5.3% | 4.8% | 4% | B |
| 1,759 | Inverness Highlands North FL | 2,830 | $63K | 7.5% | 0.8% | 1% | B |
| 1,760 | Brewster NY | 2,509 | $63K | 14.4% | 2.3% | 4% | B |
| 1,761 | Quarryville PA | 2,871 | $80K | 14.3% | 2.8% | 6% | B |
| 1,762 | Pantego TX | 2,440 | $71K | 14.7% | 4.2% | 2% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 4,868 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Brewster, 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 Brewster: questions
What is the median household income in Brewster?
$62,886 (±$10,021) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Brewster?
14.4%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Brewster?
23 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 Brewster work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are New York City (26%, 53 mi), Southeast (14%, 1 mi), Carmel (5%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Brewster walkable?
Brewster is among the most walkable U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 15.0 out of 20, and 17% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Brewster without a car?
4% of commuters take transit and 22% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Brewster, from the people who make the trip.
More of Brewster
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.