Work, pay and getting to work in Central Square
Working residents average 26 minutes each way, next to 33 for New York and 26 for the U.S. Jobs and income earn Central Square C+; getting around on foot earns it B−. Only 7% stay in Central Square for work; outside it, Syracuse is the main destination (16%, 17 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Central Square: the figures worth knowing
Central Square is where the jobs are
Central Square has 1,358 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Central Square are quick
The average trip to work takes 26 minutes, against 33 across New York. That’s about 54 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; with 821 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How Central Square earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Central Square is better than 40% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Central Square’s grade up (ahead of 63% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (15.1%, U.S. 12.5%).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Central Square could be anywhere from D to A−.
The daily flow of workers through Central Square
On a workday 767 residents head out to work, 54 work right here, and 1,304 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,400 people are in Central Square on a workday afternoon, 29% more than live here.
1.7 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
How long Central Square spends getting to work: about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Central Square workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 994 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.
Where Central Square’s workforce comes from
Where Central Square clocks in
16% 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 kinds of work in Central Square
1,358 jobs are based in Central Square.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Central Square, 2013 → 2023: 1,424 → 1,358. 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 Central Square’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The distance from Central Square to work
About 16% 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.
Central Square is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Central Square is more walkable than 51% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 32.9% across New York.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,147 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 97% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 70% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 2.6 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 73% 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). 12.8% of Central Square households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Central Square’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 5,656 U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,500, Central Square comes 2,789th 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 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 4 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | Atlantic Beach NY | 1,723 | $166K | 1.8% | 3.1% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,787 | Pine Lakes FL | 1,437 | $78K | 5.9% | 20.2% | 1% | C+ |
| 2,788 | Hallsville MO | 1,742 | $71K | 11.9% | 3.4% | 4% | C+ |
| 2,789 | Central Square NY | 1,852 | $70K | 15.1% | 4.8% | 7% | C+ |
| 2,790 | St. Paris OH | 1,884 | $58K | 6.5% | 5.9% | 5% | C+ |
| 2,791 | Cannon Beach OR | 1,512 | $69K | 4.5% | 3.0% | 17% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,656 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | 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 Central Square, 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 Central Square: questions
What is the median household income in Central Square?
$69,500 (±$22,606) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Central Square?
15.1%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Central Square?
26 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 Central Square work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Syracuse (16%, 17 mi), DeWitt (11%, 16 mi), Hastings (9%, 2 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Central Square walkable?
Central Square is more walkable than 51% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 13.1 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Central Square without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 13% of households have no car. 70% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Central Square, from the people who make the trip.
More of Central Square
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.