Thomas Cole House · Photo: Dmadeo · CC BY-SA 3.0More people are out of work in Catskill (6.8%) than in 81% of U.S. towns
A typical one-way commute from Catskill lasts 28 minutes (New York 33, U.S. 26). Catskill grades C for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. About one in five work in Catskill itself; outside it, New York City draws the most (10%, 107 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Catskill: the gist
Catskill’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Catskill is New York City, 107 miles away as the crow flies. 10% of working residents (446) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Catskill trades workers with the towns around it
Catskill has about as many jobs (4,005) as working residents (4,633), but they are mostly different people: 3,669 residents leave for work each day while 3,041 people come in. Only 24% of the jobs in Catskill are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Catskill are quick
The average trip to work takes 28 minutes, against 33 across New York. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical New York worker. 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.
Jobs & income in Catskill: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Catskill is better than 28% of U.S. towns, #597 of 758 in New York. The poverty rate holds Catskill’s grade up (11.2%, U.S. 12.5%); unemployment pulls it down.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Catskill could be anywhere from D to B.
How far it is to work from Catskill
About 22% 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.
How many people are in Catskill by day
On a workday 3,669 residents head out to work, 964 work right here, and 3,041 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 (0.86 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.
Getting to work from Catskill takes 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 Catskill workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,614 commuters (the 13% 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 towns that employ Catskill’s residents
Where Catskill clocks in
10% of workers
6% 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 4,005 jobs in Catskill are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Catskill, 2013 → 2023: 3,389 → 4,005. 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 Catskill’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Most trips from Catskill start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Catskill is more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns, #364 of 758 in New York. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 9.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 32.9% across New York, on an EPA index of 6.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 5,318 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). 14.3% of Catskill households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 5% of Catskill’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 2,507 U.S. towns of 8,000 to 15,000, Catskill comes 1,995th 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 88 | East Rockaway NY | 10,096 | $125K | 2.6% | 3.2% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 91 | North Castle NY | 12,360 | $208K | 3.8% | 3.1% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 124 | Hastings-on-Hudson NY | 8,440 | $194K | 2.3% | 4.1% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,993 | Wabash IN | 10,190 | $53K | 14.0% | 4.4% | 38% | C |
| 1,994 | Union Township IN | 10,065 | $62K | 9.7% | 5.7% | 28% | C |
| 1,995 | Catskill NY | 11,184 | $69K | 11.2% | 6.8% | 21% | C |
| 1,996 | Sandy Township PA | 11,628 | $79K | 14.2% | 7.2% | 19% | C |
| 1,997 | Worthington MN | 13,979 | $62K | 17.6% | 3.8% | 34% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 2,507 | Roma TX | 11,543 | $25K | 37.1% | 12.4% | 22% | 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 Catskill, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
Work in the towns next to Catskill
The biggest share goes to Saugerties (4%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Catskill workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Catskill | – | C | B+ | 28 min | $69,321 |
| Athens | under 2% | B− | C+ | 29 min | $84,896 |
| Hunter | under 2% | C | B+ | 17 min | $66,827 |
| Germantown | under 2% | B | B+ | 24 min | $97,564 |
| Saugerties | 4% | B− | B+ | 23 min | $78,271 |
| Greenport | 2% | C− | A− | 19 min | — |
| Cairo | under 2% | B | D | 29 min | $79,643 |
| Livingston | under 2% | C− | B | 20 min | $54,024 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Catskill’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 Catskill: questions
What is the median household income in Catskill?
$69,321 (±$10,300) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Catskill?
11.2%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Catskill?
28 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Catskill work?
21% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are New York City (10%, 107 mi), Albany (6%, 32 mi), Hudson (6%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Catskill walkable?
Catskill is more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 6.4 out of 20, and 9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Catskill without a car?
5% of commuters take transit and 14% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Catskill, from the people who make the trip.
More of Catskill
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.