Photo: Marcbela (Marc N. Belanger) · Public domainThere are 4.3 jobs in Cooperstown for every working resident, and 3,155 people commute in
There are 3,431 jobs in Cooperstown, and 799 of its residents work somewhere. Cooperstown grades C for jobs and income and A for walkability. About one in three stay in Cooperstown for work; outside it, Otsego is the main destination (40%, 4 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Cooperstown, in brief
Cooperstown fills up on a workday
Cooperstown has 3,431 jobs, 4.3 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 4,500 people are in town, more than double the 1,800 who live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Cooperstown are quick
The average trip to work takes 12 minutes, against 33 across New York. That’s about 161 hours a year less on the road than the typical New York worker. Time on the road ↓
40% of Cooperstown works in Otsego
322 working residents, 40%, have their main job in Otsego, 4.5 miles away. That’s more than work in Cooperstown itself. The commute map ↓
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 799 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Cooperstown’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Cooperstown is better than 31% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Cooperstown’s grade up ($76,000, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 27% of U.S. towns).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Cooperstown could be anywhere from D to B+.
Cooperstown on a workday afternoon
On a workday 523 residents head out to work and 276 work right here.
About 4,500 people are in Cooperstown on a workday afternoon, 143% more than live here.
4.3 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.
About 12 minutes each way for Cooperstown’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 3.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Cooperstown workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 946 commuters (the 15% 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 send workers to Cooperstown
Where Cooperstown clocks in
5% of workers
4% 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 Cooperstown are in services
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Cooperstown, 2013 → 2023: 4,392 → 3,431. 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 Cooperstown’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute from Cooperstown, by distance
About 28% 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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Cooperstown
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Cooperstown is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 44.7% 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 1,112 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). 7.9% of Cooperstown households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Cooperstown’s commuters take a bus or train.
3,353rd of 5,656: where Cooperstown ranks among U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,500
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,351 | Columbus Junction IA | 1,772 | $64K | 10.3% | 3.6% | 7% | C |
| 3,352 | Ackley IA | 1,530 | $63K | 7.5% | 2.0% | 16% | C |
| 3,353 | Cooperstown NY | 1,840 | $76K | 11.6% | 5.8% | 35% | C |
| 3,354 | Rome Township OH | 1,948 | $81K | 16.5% | 1.9% | 1% | C |
| 3,355 | Clinton Township PA | 2,071 | $68K | 9.6% | 4.4% | 2% | 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 Cooperstown, 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 Cooperstown: questions
What is the median household income in Cooperstown?
$76,000 (±$21,778) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Cooperstown?
11.6%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Cooperstown?
12 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Cooperstown work?
35% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Otsego (40%, 4 mi), New York City (5%, 150 mi), Oneonta (4%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Cooperstown walkable?
Cooperstown is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.0 out of 20, and 45% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Cooperstown without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Cooperstown, from the people who make the trip.
More of Cooperstown
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.