Photo: Daniel Case · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Canandaigua earn less than those in 66% of U.S. towns
Canandaigua grades B− for jobs and income and A− for walkability. The poverty rate is 10.8%, next to 14.0% for New York as a whole. About one in five stay in Canandaigua for work; outside it, Rochester is the main destination (10%, 26 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Canandaigua in brief
Commutes from Canandaigua are quick
The average trip to work takes 20 minutes, against 33 across New York. That’s about 100 hours a year less on the road than the typical New York worker. Time on the road ↓
Canandaigua’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Canandaigua is Rochester, 26 miles away as the crow flies. 10% of working residents (518) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
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.
Canandaigua’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Canandaigua is better than 48% of U.S. towns, #427 of 758 in New York. Job access by car holds Canandaigua’s grade up (ahead of 68% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($64,929, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Canandaigua could be anywhere from C to B+.
About 20 minutes each way, quicker than most of New York
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Canandaigua workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,369 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.
The distance from Canandaigua to work
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.
Who works in Canandaigua, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 4,113 residents head out to work, 860 work right here, and 5,251 people come in from elsewhere.
About 11,000 people are in Canandaigua on a workday afternoon, 11% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.23 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Where Canandaigua’s working residents head each day
Where Canandaigua clocks in
10% of workers
8% 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.
Services make up most of the work in Canandaigua
6,111 jobs are based in Canandaigua.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Canandaigua, 2013 → 2023: 6,372 → 6,111. 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 Canandaigua’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Good to walk, short on transit: Canandaigua
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Canandaigua is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns, #237 of 758 in New York. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 7.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 32.9% across New York, on an EPA index of 8.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 4,929 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). 13.1% of Canandaigua households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Canandaigua’s commuters take a bus or train.
Canandaigua next to U.S. towns of 7,000 to 14,000: 1,778th of 2,878 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 98 | East Rockaway NY | 10,096 | $125K | 2.6% | 3.2% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 101 | North Castle NY | 12,360 | $208K | 3.8% | 3.1% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 131 | Hastings-on-Hudson NY | 8,440 | $194K | 2.3% | 4.1% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,776 | Shawano WI | 9,693 | $57K | 14.9% | 0.9% | 28% | B− |
| 1,777 | Hampton GA | 9,349 | $75K | 13.4% | 5.0% | 1% | B− |
| 1,778 | Canandaigua NY | 10,347 | $65K | 10.8% | 4.5% | 17% | B− |
| 1,779 | Glenolden PA | 7,217 | $73K | 12.4% | 7.6% | 2% | B− |
| 1,780 | Sandston VA | 7,399 | $59K | 13.9% | 4.1% | 6% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,878 | 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 Canandaigua, 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 Canandaigua: questions
What is the median household income in Canandaigua?
$64,929 (±$5,708) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Canandaigua?
10.8%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Canandaigua?
20 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 Canandaigua work?
17% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Rochester (10%, 26 mi), Canandaigua (8%, 3 mi), Hopewell (5%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Canandaigua walkable?
Canandaigua is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.2 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Canandaigua without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 13% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Canandaigua, from the people who make the trip.
More of Canandaigua
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.