Covert Historic District · Photo: Jerrye & Roy Klotz, MD · CC BY-SA 4.0Jobs, pay and the trip to work in Covert
Covert grades C+ for jobs and income and C for walkability. About one in ten work in Covert itself; outside it, Ithaca draws the most (18%, 14 miles). The average commute takes 23 minutes each way, next to 33 for New York and 26 for the U.S.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Covert, in brief
Covert’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty and job access, Covert is better than 43% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Covert’s grade up (7.6%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 21% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (2.5%) is left out: Covert’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, Covert could be anywhere from C− to B.
Getting to work from Covert takes about 23 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Covert workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 785 commuters (the 16% 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.
In and out of Covert on a workday
On a workday 829 residents head out to work, 113 work right here, and 469 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,700 people are in Covert on a workday afternoon, 17% fewer than live here.
0.62 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.
Where Covert’s working residents head each day
Where Covert clocks in
18% of workers
12% of workers
8% 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 582 jobs in Covert are
582 jobs are based in Covert.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Covert, 2013 → 2023: 547 → 582. 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 Covert’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Miles to work from Covert
About 18% 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.
Covert is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Covert is more walkable than 32% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 2.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 32.9% across New York, on an EPA index of 5.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 929 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). 8.2% of Covert households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Covert’s commuters take a bus or train.
2,524th of 5,148: where Covert ranks among U.S. towns of 1,500 to 2,800
| # | 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 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 7 | Atlantic Beach NY | 1,723 | $166K | 1.8% | 3.1% | 3% | A+ |
| 8 | Village of the Branch NY | 1,764 | $174K | 1.5% | 3.1% | 2% | A+ |
| 9 | Old Brookville NY | 2,098 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,522 | Shelburne MA | 1,868 | $83K | 10.4% | 4.0% | 12% | C+ |
| 2,523 | Spaulding Township MI | 1,914 | $62K | 11.4% | 4.4% | 5% | C+ |
| 2,524 | Covert NY | 2,102 | $76K | 7.6% | 2.5% | 12% | C+ |
| 2,525 | Borrego Springs CA | 2,700 | $86K | 3.5% | 6.1% | 27% | C+ |
| 2,526 | Sandycreek Township PA | 2,028 | $88K | 8.0% | 5.7% | 10% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,148 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Covert, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
The towns next door employ 13% of Covert
The biggest share goes to Ulysses (8%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Covert workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Covert | – | C+ | C | 23 min | $75,688 |
| Lansing | 5% | C+ | B+ | 20 min | $86,342 |
| Ovid | under 2% | D | B− | 31 min | $63,594 |
| Ulysses | 8% | C | B− | 26 min | $71,400 |
| Lodi | under 2% | C | C+ | 26 min | $78,489 |
| Genoa | under 2% | B | C | 23 min | $92,833 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Covert’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 Covert: questions
What is the median household income in Covert?
$75,688 (±$16,232) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Covert?
7.6%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Covert?
23 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 16% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Covert work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Ithaca (18%, 14 mi), Ithaca (12%, 14 mi), Ulysses (8%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Covert walkable?
Covert is more walkable than 32% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 5.3 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Covert 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 Covert, from the people who make the trip.
More of Covert
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.