Photo: Doug Kerr from Albany, New York, United States · CC BY-SA 2.0At 5.6%, unemployment in Dryden is higher than in 69% of U.S. towns
Commuters spend 19 minutes getting to work on average, where New York has 33 and the U.S. 26. The two grades for Dryden are C+ for jobs and income and B for walkability. About one in ten work in Dryden itself; outside it, Ithaca draws the most (25%, 10 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Dryden stands out on work
Commutes from Dryden are quick
The average trip to work takes 19 minutes, against 33 across New York. That’s about 107 hours a year less on the road than the typical New York worker. Time on the road ↓
A lot of Dryden works one town over
35% of working residents work in a town that borders Dryden: Ithaca (25%), Lansing (9%) and Groton (1%). Next door ↓
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.
What’s behind Dryden’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Dryden is better than 36% of U.S. towns, #530 of 758 in New York. Household income holds Dryden’s grade up ($81,127, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Dryden could be anywhere from C− to B−.
How long Dryden spends getting to work: about 19 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Dryden workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,807 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 daily flow of workers through Dryden
On a workday 4,935 residents head out to work, 603 work right here, and 2,624 people come in from elsewhere.
About 11,000 people are in Dryden on a workday afternoon, 17% fewer than live here.
0.58 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 people from Dryden work
Where Dryden clocks in
25% of workers
14% 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 Dryden
3,227 jobs are based in Dryden.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Dryden, 2013 → 2023: 3,623 → 3,227. 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 Dryden’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many miles Dryden commutes
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.
Driving is how Dryden gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Dryden is more walkable than 61% of U.S. towns, #435 of 758 in New York. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 10.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 32.9% across New York, on an EPA index of 5.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 6,857 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). 8.7% of Dryden households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Dryden’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Dryden ranks: 1,858th of 2,526 U.S. towns of 9,000 to 18,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 64 | Floral Park NY | 16,105 | $150K | 3.0% | 3.1% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 90 | East Rockaway NY | 10,096 | $125K | 2.6% | 3.2% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 93 | North Castle NY | 12,360 | $208K | 3.8% | 3.1% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,856 | Memphis FL | 9,185 | $75K | 14.2% | 8.1% | 2% | C+ |
| 1,857 | Franklin OH | 11,647 | $59K | 22.5% | 4.6% | 9% | C+ |
| 1,858 | Dryden NY | 13,320 | $81K | 13.6% | 5.6% | 11% | C+ |
| 1,859 | American Township OH | 14,434 | $65K | 8.1% | 7.7% | 13% | C+ |
| 1,860 | Shady Hills FL | 11,983 | $68K | 12.2% | 5.4% | 3% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,526 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Dryden, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
35% of Dryden works in a bordering town
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Dryden workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dryden | – | C+ | B | 19 min | $81,127 |
| Caroline | under 1% | C+ | C− | 21 min | $80,855 |
| Groton | 1% | B− | B− | 21 min | $69,113 |
| Virgil | under 1% | B− | D | 27 min | $91,094 |
| Ithaca | 25% | B | A− | 17 min | $105,978 |
| Lansing | 9% | C+ | B+ | 20 min | $86,342 |
| Lansing | under 1% | C | A− | 16 min | $72,364 |
| Northeast Ithaca | under 1% | — | — | 15 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Northeast Ithaca: a Census-designated place inside a larger town, graded as part of it. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Ithaca. Darker towns draw more of Dryden’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 Dryden: questions
What is the median household income in Dryden?
$81,127 (±$4,207) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Dryden?
13.6%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Dryden?
19 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 Dryden work?
11% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Ithaca (25%, 10 mi), Ithaca (14%, 8 mi), Lansing (9%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Dryden walkable?
Dryden is more walkable than 61% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 5.2 out of 20, and 10% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Dryden without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Dryden, from the people who make the trip.
More of Dryden
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.