Bridgewater Railroad Station · Photo: Agreen54 · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in Bridgewater trail those of 93% of U.S. towns
6% of workers have no commute at all, next to 15% for New York as a whole. Below the poverty line: 18.3% of residents (New York 14.0%). The two grades for Bridgewater are D for jobs and income and D for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Bridgewater
Bridgewater is a place people come home to
There are 122 jobs based in Bridgewater, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Bridgewater has about 1,000 people in it, 33% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Bridgewater 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 621 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Jobs & income in Bridgewater: the grade in detail
On income, poverty and job access, Bridgewater is better than 11% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Bridgewater’s grade up (ahead of 37% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($44,850, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (4.1%) is left out: Bridgewater’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Bridgewater could be anywhere from D to C−.
A workday in Bridgewater: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 590 residents head out to work, 31 work right here, and 91 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,000 people are in Bridgewater on a workday afternoon, 33% fewer than live here.
0.20 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.
Getting to work from Bridgewater takes about 23 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bridgewater workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 533 commuters (the 6% 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.
12% of working residents work in Utica
Where Bridgewater clocks in
12% of workers
10% 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.
What Bridgewater’s employers do
122 jobs are based in Bridgewater.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bridgewater, 2013 → 2023: 66 → 122. 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 Bridgewater’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Bridgewater goes to work
About 23% 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.
Most trips from Bridgewater start in a car
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 0.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 32.9% across New York, on an EPA index of 3.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 566 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 6.7% of Bridgewater households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Bridgewater’s commuters take a bus or train.
Bridgewater places 4,400th of 5,397 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 4 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 5 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,398 | John Day OR | 1,634 | $58K | 12.9% | 6.9% | 36% | D |
| 4,399 | Guernsey WY | 1,104 | $50K | 10.1% | 8.9% | 25% | D |
| 4,400 | Bridgewater NY | 1,514 | $45K | 18.3% | 4.1% | 5% | D |
| 4,401 | Shippen Township PA | 1,805 | $62K | 14.5% | 7.6% | 14% | D |
| 4,402 | North Shenango Township PA | 1,279 | $52K | 11.4% | 4.7% | 7% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,397 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 Bridgewater, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
Next door to Bridgewater
The biggest share goes to Winfield (4%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Bridgewater workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bridgewater | – | D | D | 23 min | $44,850 |
| Plainfield | under 3% | — | — | 29 min | — |
| Unadilla Forks | under 3% | — | — | 26 min | — |
| Sangerfield | 3% | B+ | B+ | 24 min | $91,563 |
| Brookfield | under 3% | C− | D | 36 min | $69,205 |
| Winfield | 4% | C | C+ | 36 min | $66,917 |
| Paris | under 3% | A− | D | 21 min | $93,491 |
Same-state neighbors only. Plainfield: not graded. Unadilla Forks: a Census-designated place inside a larger town, graded as part of it. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Bridgewater’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 Bridgewater: questions
What is the median household income in Bridgewater?
$44,850 (±$11,935) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bridgewater?
18.3%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bridgewater?
23 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bridgewater work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Utica (12%, 13 mi), New Hartford (10%, 11 mi), Winfield (4%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Bridgewater walkable?
Bridgewater is more walkable than 6% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 3.3 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bridgewater without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Bridgewater, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bridgewater
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.