Cairo has lower unemployment (0.5%) than 97% of U.S. towns
The trip to work takes 29 minutes on average, next to 33 for New York and 26 for the U.S. Jobs and income earn Cairo B; getting around on foot earns it D. About one in ten stay in Cairo for work; outside it, Catskill is the main destination (14%, 7 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The four measures behind Cairo’s grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Cairo is better than 58% of U.S. towns, #348 of 758 in New York. Unemployment holds Cairo’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 21% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Cairo could be anywhere from C+ to A−.
Cairo quiets down on a workday
On a workday 2,480 residents head out to work, 311 work right here, and 923 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,100 people are in Cairo on a workday afternoon, 23% fewer than live here.
0.44 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.
Commuting out of Cairo: the destinations
Where Cairo clocks in
9% of workers
6% 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 the 1,234 jobs in Cairo are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Cairo, 2013 → 2023: 1,011 → 1,234. 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 Cairo’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Cairo: about 29 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Cairo workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,872 commuters (the 11% 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.
How far Cairo’s workers travel
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.
Cairo is a driving town
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 3,231 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). 4.8% of Cairo households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Cairo’s commuters take a bus or train.
Cairo next to U.S. towns of 4,700 to 9,000: 1,559th of 3,201 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Norwood NJ | 5,817 | $178K | 2.8% | 0.9% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 8 | Lawrence NY | 6,847 | $170K | 3.5% | 3.9% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | Irvington NY | 6,533 | $173K | 1.6% | 2.1% | 6% | A+ |
| 15 | Kings Point NY | 5,710 | $211K | 0.9% | 2.4% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,557 | Ohio Township IN | 4,886 | $76K | 7.9% | 3.9% | 18% | B |
| 1,558 | Winslow ME | 8,063 | $71K | 10.8% | 1.3% | 12% | B |
| 1,559 | Cairo NY | 6,661 | $80K | 10.5% | 0.5% | 11% | B |
| 1,560 | Prien LA | 7,119 | $87K | 6.4% | 6.9% | 2% | B |
| 1,561 | Pea Ridge WV | 6,988 | $66K | 9.8% | 2.4% | 2% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 3,201 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Cairo, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
19% of Cairo works in a town next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Cairo workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cairo | – | B | D | 29 min | $79,643 |
| Athens | under 3% | B− | C+ | 29 min | $84,896 |
| Windham | 2% | C+ | B+ | 27 min | $76,477 |
| Jewett | under 3% | — | — | 26 min | — |
| Coxsackie | 3% | B− | C+ | 33 min | $88,188 |
| Greenville | under 3% | B+ | B | 32 min | $81,406 |
| Catskill | 14% | C | B+ | 28 min | $69,321 |
| Durham | under 3% | B | B− | 33 min | $81,471 |
| Hunter | under 3% | C | B+ | 17 min | $66,827 |
Same-state neighbors only. Jewett: not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Catskill. Darker towns draw more of Cairo’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 Cairo: questions
What is the median household income in Cairo?
$79,643 (±$21,754) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Cairo?
10.5%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Cairo?
29 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Cairo work?
11% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Catskill (14%, 7 mi), New York City (9%, 113 mi), Albany (6%, 28 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Cairo walkable?
Cairo is more walkable than 14% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 5.5 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Cairo without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Cairo, from the people who make the trip.
More of Cairo
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.