William Smith Ingham House · Photo: Doncram · CC BY-SA 4.0Cato has 0.2 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
The trip to work takes 23 minutes on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. There are 228 jobs in Cato for 1,108 working residents. Jobs and income earn Cato C+; getting around on foot earns it C.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Cato
Commutes from Cato are quick
The average trip to work takes 23 minutes, against 33 across New York. That’s about 77 hours a year less on the road than the typical New York worker. Time on the road ↓
Cato is a place people come home to
There are 228 jobs based in Cato, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Cato has about 1,500 people in it, 37% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
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.
Why Cato gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Cato is better than 43% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Cato’s grade up ($79,760, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down (5.0%, U.S. 5.2%).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Cato could be anywhere from C− to A−.
Time on the road from Cato: about 23 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Cato workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,192 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 a workday changes Cato
On a workday 1,064 residents head out to work, 44 work right here, and 184 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,500 people are in Cato on a workday afternoon, 37% fewer than live here.
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 Syracuse
Where Cato clocks in
12% of workers
10% 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.
Goods, not services: 48% of the jobs in Cato
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Cato, 2013 → 2023: 121 → 228. 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 Cato’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far it is to work from Cato
About 17% 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.
In Cato, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Cato is more walkable than 35% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 3.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 32.9% across New York, on an EPA index of 4.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,343 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). 6.5% of Cato households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Cato’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Cato is 2,588th among 4,995 U.S. towns of 1,700 to 3,200
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6 | Atlantic Beach NY | 1,723 | $166K | 1.8% | 3.1% | 3% | A+ |
| 7 | Village of the Branch NY | 1,764 | $174K | 1.5% | 3.1% | 2% | A+ |
| 8 | Old Brookville NY | 2,098 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,586 | Harrison Township IN | 2,268 | $61K | 13.4% | 1.5% | 7% | C+ |
| 2,587 | Waterloo Township MI | 2,995 | $75K | 7.4% | 6.3% | 3% | C+ |
| 2,588 | Cato NY | 2,401 | $80K | 11.8% | 5.0% | 4% | C+ |
| 2,589 | Damascus Township OH | 1,822 | $76K | 13.1% | 3.0% | <1% | C+ |
| 2,590 | Madison Township OH | 1,833 | $76K | 20.6% | 1.1% | 1% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,995 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Cato, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
Work next door: 12% of Cato’s workers
The biggest share goes to Brutus (4%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Cato workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cato | – | C+ | C | 23 min | $79,760 |
| Brutus | 4% | B | C+ | 27 min | $77,031 |
| Lysander | 4% | A− | C+ | 24 min | $107,984 |
| Conquest | under 3% | C | D | 26 min | $81,620 |
| Ira | 4% | A− | B− | 30 min | $97,019 |
| Elbridge | under 3% | B | C+ | 25 min | $76,479 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Cato’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 Cato: questions
What is the median household income in Cato?
$79,760 (±$11,398) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Cato?
11.8%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Cato?
23 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 Cato work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Syracuse (12%, 21 mi), Auburn (10%, 13 mi), DeWitt (6%, 24 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Cato walkable?
Cato is more walkable than 35% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 4.4 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Cato without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Cato, from the people who make the trip.
More of Cato
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.