Photo: Dougtone · CC BY-SA 2.0Household incomes in Carthage are lower than in 77% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Carthage D; getting around on foot earns it B−. 25.8% of residents are in poverty, next to 14.0% for New York as a whole. For 2% of workers, the job is at home; New York has 15%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Carthage at work: what stands out
Carthage trades workers with the towns around it
Carthage has about as many jobs (1,201) as working residents (1,066), but they are mostly different people: 900 residents leave for work each day while 1,035 people come in. Only 14% of the jobs in Carthage are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Carthage and Wilna trade workers both ways
Wilna is the top workplace for Carthage residents (17%) and also where the most people who work in Carthage come from (24% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
A longer commute than the towns next door
Carthage averages 28 minutes each way, more than any bordering town (20 to 24 minutes). Next door ↓
Few Carthage workers work from home
Only 2% of workers work from home, against 15% across New York. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Carthage has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Carthage went from 826 in 2013 to 1,201 in 2023, +45%. The jobs ↓
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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
How Carthage earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Carthage is better than 10% of U.S. towns, #726 of 758 in New York. Unemployment holds Carthage’s grade up (5.6%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Carthage could be anywhere from D− to C+.
Who commutes out of Carthage, and who commutes in
On a workday 900 residents head out to work, 166 work right here, and 1,035 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.13 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.
17% of working residents work in Wilna
Where Carthage clocks in
17% 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.
The daily trip from Carthage: about 28 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Carthage workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,400 commuters (the 2% 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.
Mostly health care, schools and offices in Carthage
1,201 jobs are based in Carthage.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Carthage, 2013 → 2023: 826 → 1,201. 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 Carthage’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many miles Carthage commutes
About 29% 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.
For most of Carthage, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Carthage is more walkable than 48% of U.S. towns, #514 of 758 in New York. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 3.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 32.9% across New York, on an EPA index of 6.1.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,428 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). 8.7% of Carthage households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Carthage’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 2,200 to 4,300, Carthage ranks 4,181st of 4,698 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,179 | Dade City North FL | 2,803 | $32K | 41.4% | 5.1% | 1% | D |
| 4,180 | Crystal River FL | 3,618 | $54K | 17.7% | 6.8% | 10% | D |
| 4,181 | Carthage NY | 3,196 | $58K | 25.8% | 5.6% | 16% | D |
| 4,182 | Chandler OK | 2,963 | $47K | 29.0% | 5.5% | 26% | D |
| 4,183 | Flandreau SD | 2,396 | $49K | 21.9% | 4.9% | 41% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 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 Carthage, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
27% of Carthage works in a bordering town
The biggest share goes to Wilna (17%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Carthage workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carthage | – | D | B− | 28 min | $58,125 |
| Wilna | 17% | D | B− | 24 min | $60,213 |
| Champion | 10% | D | B− | 20 min | $56,875 |
| West Carthage | under 2% | C− | B+ | 21 min | $49,885 |
| Denmark | under 2% | C | C+ | 23 min | $63,270 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Carthage’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 Carthage: questions
What is the median household income in Carthage?
$58,125 (±$8,989) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Carthage?
25.8%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Carthage?
28 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Carthage work?
16% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Wilna (17%, 5 mi), Watertown (15%, 15 mi), Champion (10%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Carthage walkable?
Carthage is more walkable than 48% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 6.1 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Carthage without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Carthage, from the people who make the trip.
More of Carthage
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.