Household incomes in Cayuga Heights top those of 97% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 11.2% of residents, next to 14.0% across New York. Cayuga Heights grades B+ for jobs and income and A for walkability. Working from home is the commute for 22% of workers, against 15% across New York.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Cayuga Heights at work: what stands out
Commutes from Cayuga Heights are quick
The average trip to work takes 13 minutes, against 33 across New York. That’s about 153 hours a year less on the road than the typical New York worker. Time on the road ↓
Much of Cayuga Heights works one town over
63% of working residents work in a town that borders Cayuga Heights: Ithaca (44%), Ithaca (12%) and Lansing (7%). Next door ↓
Most Cayuga Heights residents work close to home
65% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. How far ↓
Home offices are common in Cayuga Heights
23% of Cayuga Heights workers work from home, against 15% across New York. 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.
Where Cayuga Heights’ Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Cayuga Heights is better than 69% of U.S. towns, #258 of 758 in New York. Household income holds Cayuga Heights’ grade up ($166,526, U.S. $80,734); the poverty rate pulls it down. It also does well on unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Cayuga Heights could be anywhere from B− to A.
About 13 minutes to work from Cayuga Heights
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Cayuga Heights workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,080 commuters (the 23% 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 it is to work from Cayuga Heights
About 20% 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.
Who commutes out of Cayuga Heights, and who commutes in
On a workday 1,359 residents head out to work, 22 work right here, and 762 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,300 people are in Cayuga Heights on a workday afternoon, 15% fewer than live here.
0.57 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.
44% of working residents work in Ithaca
Where Cayuga Heights clocks in
44% of workers
12% 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.
Most jobs in Cayuga Heights are in services
784 jobs are based in Cayuga Heights.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Cayuga Heights, 2013 → 2023: 709 → 784. 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 Cayuga Heights’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Cayuga Heights is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Cayuga Heights is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns, #188 of 758 in New York. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 40.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 32.9% across New York, on an EPA index of 8.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,394 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). 16.9% of Cayuga Heights households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 16% of Cayuga Heights’ commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 2,700 to 5,200, Cayuga Heights ranks 1,292nd of 4,264 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6 | Lloyd Harbor NY | 3,587 | $250K | 2.1% | 0.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 47 | Great Neck Estates NY | 3,139 | $238K | 5.7% | 1.7% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 105 | Pound Ridge NY | 5,057 | $250K | 4.5% | 2.0% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,290 | Somerset Township MI | 4,606 | $89K | 6.7% | 2.5% | 3% | B+ |
| 1,291 | Washington Township OH | 4,415 | $87K | 7.5% | 3.4% | 2% | B+ |
| 1,292 | Cayuga Heights NY | 3,860 | $167K | 11.2% | 3.6% | 2% | B+ |
| 1,293 | Redwood TX | 3,441 | $89K | 2.2% | 7.7% | 3% | B+ |
| 1,294 | Strasburg OH | 2,759 | $64K | 9.9% | 0.3% | 5% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,264 | 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 Cayuga Heights, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
The towns next door employ 63% of Cayuga Heights
The biggest share goes to Ithaca (44%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Cayuga Heights workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cayuga Heights | – | B+ | A | 13 min | $166,526 |
| Northeast Ithaca | under 1% | — | — | 15 min | — |
| Lansing | under 1% | C | A− | 16 min | $72,364 |
| Ithaca | 12% | B | A | 19 min | $48,784 |
| Ithaca | 44% | B | A− | 17 min | $105,978 |
| Lansing | 7% | C+ | B+ | 20 min | $86,342 |
Same-state neighbors only. Northeast Ithaca: a Census-designated place inside a larger town, graded as part of it. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Cayuga Heights’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 Cayuga Heights: questions
What is the median household income in Cayuga Heights?
$166,526 (±$25,064) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Cayuga Heights?
11.2%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Cayuga Heights?
13 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 22% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Cayuga Heights work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Ithaca (44%, 5 mi), Ithaca (12%, 2 mi), Lansing (7%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Cayuga Heights walkable?
Cayuga Heights is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.0 out of 20, and 40% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Cayuga Heights without a car?
16% of commuters take transit and 17% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Cayuga Heights, from the people who make the trip.
More of Cayuga Heights
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.