Photo: DanTD · CC BY-SA 4.0Brightwaters has some of the highest household incomes of any U.S. town
For jobs and income Brightwaters is better than 96% of U.S. towns (A+); for walkability it is more walkable than 94% of U.S. towns (A). Household incomes here are among the highest in the country. Only 3% work in Brightwaters; the top destination outside it is Islip (29%, 3 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Brightwaters
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Brightwaters
The poverty rate holds Brightwaters’ grade up (0.2%, U.S. 12.5%); unemployment pulls it down (4.4%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Brightwaters could be anywhere from A to A+.
The towns that employ Brightwaters’ residents
Where Brightwaters clocks in
29% of workers
21% 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.
Who works in Brightwaters, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 1,332 residents head out to work, 44 work right here, and 661 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,500 people are in Brightwaters on a workday afternoon, 21% fewer than live here.
0.51 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.
Inside Brightwaters’ 705 jobs
705 jobs are based in Brightwaters.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Brightwaters, 2013 → 2023: 682 → 705. 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 Brightwaters’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Brightwaters takes about 32 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Brightwaters workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,236 commuters (the 20% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Brightwaters
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.
Brightwaters is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,543 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). 1.3% of Brightwaters households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 11% of Brightwaters’ commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Brightwaters is 144th of 4,698 U.S. towns of 2,200 to 4,300
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 8 | East Williston NY | 2,616 | $215K | 2.3% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 9 | Lloyd Harbor NY | 3,587 | $250K | 2.1% | 0.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 45 | Great Neck Estates NY | 3,139 | $238K | 5.7% | 1.7% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 142 | Bushland TX | 2,779 | $146K | 1.3% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| 143 | Solon IA | 3,345 | $113K | 3.2% | 0.9% | 9% | A+ |
| 144 | Brightwaters NY | 3,208 | $218K | 0.2% | 4.4% | 3% | A+ |
| 145 | Leroy Township OH | 3,123 | $114K | 3.5% | 0.0% | 4% | A+ |
| 146 | Lake Holm WA | 3,555 | $177K | 1.1% | 3.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,698 | 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 Brightwaters, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
The towns around Brightwaters
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Brightwaters workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brightwaters | – | A+ | A | 32 min | $218,000 |
| Bay Shore | under 1% | — | — | 26 min | — |
| West Bay Shore | under 1% | — | — | 32 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Bay Shore and West Bay Shore: Census-designated places inside larger towns, graded as part of them. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Brightwaters’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 Brightwaters: questions
What is the median household income in Brightwaters?
$218,000 (±$23,916) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Brightwaters?
0.2%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Brightwaters?
32 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 20% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Brightwaters work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Islip (29%, 3 mi), New York City (21%, 36 mi), Babylon (8%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Brightwaters walkable?
Brightwaters is more walkable than 94% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 9.8 out of 20, and 14% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Brightwaters without a car?
11% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Brightwaters, from the people who make the trip.
More of Brightwaters
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.