Photo: Ken Winters, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers · Public domainDunkirk has 4.2 jobs for every working resident: 1,676 people commute in to work
For 2% of workers, the job is at home, next to 15% for New York as a whole. 1,715 jobs are based in Dunkirk, against 413 working residents. Dunkirk grades C+ for jobs and income and A− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The short version on getting to work from Dunkirk
Dunkirk fills up on a workday
Dunkirk has 1,715 jobs, 4.2 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 2,500 people are in town, more than double the 1,200 who live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Dunkirk are quick
The average trip to work takes 14 minutes, against 33 across New York. That’s about 146 hours a year less on the road than the typical New York worker. Time on the road ↓
Dunkirk and Dunkirk trade workers both ways
Dunkirk is the top workplace for Dunkirk residents (19%) and also where the most people who work in Dunkirk come from (18% of its jobs). 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 413 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How Dunkirk earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Dunkirk is better than 38% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Dunkirk’s grade up (8.9%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 32% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (4.1%) is left out: Dunkirk’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Dunkirk could be anywhere from D to B+.
Who commutes out of Dunkirk, and who commutes in
On a workday 374 residents head out to work and 39 work right here.
About 2,500 people are in Dunkirk on a workday afternoon, 108% more than live here.
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 14 minutes to work from Dunkirk
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Dunkirk workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 409 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.
Where the people who work in Dunkirk live
Where Dunkirk clocks in
19% of workers
7% 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.
Dunkirk works in goods: 38% of its jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Dunkirk, 2013 → 2023: 1,524 → 1,715. 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 Dunkirk’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The distance from Dunkirk to work
About 15% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Dunkirk
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Dunkirk is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 6.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 32.9% across New York, on an EPA index of 7.5.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 419 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). 9.2% of Dunkirk households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Dunkirk’s commuters take a bus or train.
Dunkirk next to U.S. towns of 800 to 1,600: 2,026th of 4,312 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 4 | Saddle Rock NY | 1,008 | $176K | 0.8% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,024 | Piedmont SD | 1,245 | $54K | 7.3% | 1.0% | 1% | C+ |
| 2,025 | Pigeon Township IN | 1,007 | $116K | 11.8% | 1.1% | <1% | C+ |
| 2,026 | Dunkirk NY | 1,202 | $67K | 8.9% | 4.1% | 9% | C+ |
| 2,027 | Clyde NC | 1,355 | $56K | 8.2% | 0.4% | 2% | C+ |
| 2,028 | Mendon Township IL | 1,384 | $76K | 10.8% | 3.1% | 6% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,312 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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 Dunkirk, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
Bordering towns draw 10% of Dunkirk’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
The biggest share goes to Pomfret. Darker towns draw more of Dunkirk’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 Dunkirk: questions
What is the median household income in Dunkirk?
$67,045 (±$17,584) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Dunkirk?
8.9%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Dunkirk?
14 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 Dunkirk work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Dunkirk (19%, 1 mi), Pomfret (10%, 4 mi), Jamestown (7%, 26 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Dunkirk walkable?
Dunkirk is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.5 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Dunkirk without a car?
0% 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 Dunkirk, from the people who make the trip.
More of Dunkirk
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.