Dundas Castle · Photo: Peter Bond from Philadelphia, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0Most of Colchester commutes out: there are 0.5 jobs for every working resident
352 jobs are based in Colchester; 685 of its residents have a job. Jobs and income earn Colchester C−; getting around on foot earns it C+. Home is the office for 2% of workers; New York has 15%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Colchester in brief
A big share show a job far from home
35% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
A longer commute than the towns next door
Colchester averages 33 minutes each way, more than any bordering town (17 to 30 minutes). Next door ↓
Few Colchester 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 ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 685 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Inside Colchester’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Colchester is better than 16% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Colchester’s grade up (12.2%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (near the bottom of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (10.0%) is left out: Colchester’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Colchester could be anywhere from D− to C+.
How far Colchester goes to work
About 35% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
How long Colchester spends getting to work: about 33 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Colchester workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 733 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.
The daily flow of workers through Colchester
On a workday 542 residents head out to work, 143 work right here, and 209 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,400 people are in Colchester on a workday afternoon, 19% 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 2024, primary jobs.
9% of working residents work in Delhi
Where Colchester clocks in
9% of workers
7% 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.
Services make up most of the work in Colchester
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Colchester, 2014 → 2024: 368 → 352. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Colchester’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting around Colchester: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Colchester is more walkable than 41% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 6.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 32.9% across New York, on an EPA index of 3.6.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 751 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). 2.0% of Colchester households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Colchester’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 6,085 U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,400, Colchester comes 4,571st on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 1% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 8 | Atlantic Beach NY | 1,723 | $166K | 1.8% | 3.1% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,569 | Johnsonburg PA | 2,291 | $61K | 12.3% | 7.0% | 16% | C− |
| 4,570 | Indian Creek Township IL | 2,055 | $59K | 10.4% | 6.8% | 14% | C− |
| 4,571 | Colchester NY | 1,745 | $67K | 12.2% | 10.0% | 21% | C− |
| 4,572 | Sugarcreek Township PA | 1,333 | $58K | 13.6% | 7.1% | 3% | C− |
| 4,573 | Ness City KS | 1,313 | $65K | 11.5% | 0.2% | 32% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 6,085 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 7% | 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 Colchester, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
Bordering towns draw 12% of Colchester’s workers
The biggest share goes to Walton (6%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Colchester workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colchester | – | C− | C+ | 33 min | $67,222 |
| Hancock | under 2% | D | B− | 30 min | $62,243 |
| Rockland | 4% | C | B− | 24 min | $52,778 |
| Andes | under 2% | C− | B | 26 min | $75,000 |
| Hamden | 2% | C− | C+ | 24 min | $64,457 |
| Walton | 6% | D− | B+ | 17 min | $49,183 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Colchester’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 2024, 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 Colchester: questions
What is the median household income in Colchester?
$67,222 (±$14,724) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Colchester?
12.2%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Colchester?
33 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 Colchester work?
21% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Delhi (9%, 16 mi), New York City (7%, 109 mi), Walton (6%, 13 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Colchester walkable?
Colchester is more walkable than 41% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 3.6 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Colchester without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Colchester, from the people who make the trip.
More of Colchester
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.