Photo: Doug Kerr from Upstate New York · CC BY-SA 2.0Households in Brocton have lower incomes than those in 76% of U.S. towns
For 4% of workers, the job is at home, where New York as a whole has 15%. The poverty rate is 24.6% (New York 14.0%). Jobs and income earn Brocton D; getting around on foot earns it B−.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Brocton, in a few figures
Commutes from Brocton are quick
The average trip to work takes 17 minutes, against 33 across New York. That’s about 123 hours a year less on the road than the typical New York worker. Time on the road ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Brocton than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Brocton fell from 668 in 2013 to 292 in 2023, −56%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
Few Brocton workers work from home
Only 4% of workers work from home, against 15% across New York. Almost everyone here travels to a job. 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 417 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where Brocton’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty and job access, Brocton is better than 9% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Brocton’s grade up ($58,500, U.S. $80,734); the poverty rate pulls it down.
Unemployment (5.8%) is left out: Brocton’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, Brocton could be anywhere from D− to C−.
About 17 minutes to work from Brocton
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Brocton workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 522 commuters (the 4% 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.
The 292 jobs based in Brocton
292 jobs are based in Brocton.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Brocton, 2013 → 2023: 668 → 292. 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 Brocton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Brocton quiets down on a workday
On a workday 394 residents head out to work, 23 work right here, and 269 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,200 people are in Brocton on a workday afternoon, 10% fewer than live here.
0.70 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.
12% of working residents work in Portland
Where Brocton clocks in
12% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Brocton
About 24% 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 of Brocton commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Brocton is more walkable than 45% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 32.9% across New York, on an EPA index of 5.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 546 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). 6.4% of Brocton households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Brocton’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Brocton is 4,559th of 5,400 U.S. towns of 900 to 1,800
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,557 | Vevay IN | 1,760 | $46K | 13.6% | 9.2% | 11% | D |
| 4,558 | Bourbon MO | 1,544 | $54K | 20.6% | 4.7% | 7% | D |
| 4,559 | Brocton NY | 1,310 | $59K | 24.6% | 5.8% | 6% | D |
| 4,560 | Sardinia OH | 1,101 | $58K | 25.9% | 3.8% | 1% | D |
| 4,561 | Meeker OK | 1,031 | $41K | 25.2% | 4.1% | 5% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,400 | 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 Brocton, 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 Brocton: questions
What is the median household income in Brocton?
$58,500 (±$7,190) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Brocton?
24.6%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Brocton?
17 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Brocton work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Portland (12%, 2 mi), Dunkirk (12%, 8 mi), Pomfret (9%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Brocton walkable?
Brocton is more walkable than 45% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 5.0 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Brocton without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Brocton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Brocton
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.