De Kalb’s household incomes are lower than in 78% of U.S. towns
At home: 4% of workers have no commute at all (New York 15%). 6.4% of residents are in poverty, next to 14.0% for New York as a whole. The two grades for De Kalb are C for jobs and income and D for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in De Kalb
De Kalb makes and builds things
72% of the jobs based in De Kalb are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs De Kalb residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 16%. The jobs ↓
A lot of De Kalb works one town over
35% of working residents work in a town that borders De Kalb: Canton (17%), Gouverneur (11%) and Oswegatchie (4%). Next door ↓
De Kalb has added jobs fast
Jobs based in De Kalb went from 384 in 2013 to 680 in 2023, +77%. The jobs ↓
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 782 working residents, small shifts move the shares; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
What’s behind De Kalb’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, De Kalb is better than 28% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds De Kalb’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 11% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (2.3%) is left out: De Kalb’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, De Kalb could be anywhere from C− to C+.
De Kalb makes things: 72% of its jobs are in goods
680 jobs are based in De Kalb.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in De Kalb, 2013 → 2023: 384 → 680. 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 De Kalb’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who commutes out of De Kalb, and who commutes in
On a workday 718 residents head out to work, 64 work right here, and 616 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.87 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
17% of working residents work in Canton
Where De Kalb clocks in
17% 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 daily trip from De Kalb: about 25 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of De Kalb workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 776 commuters (the 4% 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.
Miles to work from De Kalb
About 24% 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.
The commute in De Kalb is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, De Kalb is more walkable than 14% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 1.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 32.9% across New York, on an EPA index of 3.1.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 811 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). 3.9% of De Kalb households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of De Kalb’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, De Kalb is 3,719th of 5,552 U.S. towns of 1,600 to 3,200
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,717 | McCleary WA | 2,053 | $78K | 10.4% | 11.2% | 4% | C |
| 3,718 | Antwerp NY | 1,641 | $74K | 9.7% | 7.2% | 1% | C |
| 3,719 | De Kalb NY | 2,336 | $57K | 6.4% | 2.3% | 8% | C |
| 3,720 | Elk Lick Township PA | 2,197 | $71K | 20.2% | 2.5% | 6% | C |
| 3,721 | East Taylor Township PA | 2,344 | $70K | 10.8% | 10.1% | 5% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 5,552 | 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 De Kalb, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
The towns next door employ 35% of De Kalb
The biggest share goes to Canton (17%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | De Kalb workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| De Kalb | – | C | D | 25 min | $57,467 |
| De Peyster | under 2% | D | B− | 23 min | $67,000 |
| Hermon | 3% | C | D | 31 min | $69,896 |
| Gouverneur | 11% | D− | B | 24 min | $44,411 |
| Canton | 17% | C− | A− | 16 min | $70,401 |
| Oswegatchie | 4% | B− | B− | 20 min | $85,263 |
| Macomb | under 2% | — | — | 29 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Macomb: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of De Kalb’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 De Kalb: questions
What is the median household income in De Kalb?
$57,467 (±$12,570) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in De Kalb?
6.4%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from De Kalb?
25 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in De Kalb work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Canton (17%, 10 mi), Gouverneur (11%, 10 mi), Ogdensburg (9%, 17 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is De Kalb walkable?
De Kalb is more walkable than 14% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 3.1 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around De Kalb without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from De Kalb, from the people who make the trip.
More of De Kalb
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.