Photo: Daniel Case · CC BY-SA 3.0Most of Esopus commutes out: there are 0.2 jobs for every working resident
Esopus has 681 jobs for 3,533 working residents. Jobs and income earn Esopus B−; getting around on foot earns it B−. Only 5% work in Esopus itself; outside it, Kingston draws the most (18%, 7 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Esopus at work: what stands out
A lot of Esopus works one town over
32% of working residents work in a town that borders Esopus: Kingston (18%), Ulster (6%) and New Paltz (4%). Next door ↓
Esopus is a place people come home to
There are 681 jobs based in Esopus, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Esopus has about 6,700 people in it, 30% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Esopus are quick
The average trip to work takes 27 minutes, against 33 across New York. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical New York worker. Time on the road ↓
A big share show a job far from home
32% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
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.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Esopus
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Esopus is better than 46% of U.S. towns, #443 of 758 in New York. Household income holds Esopus’ grade up ($88,837, U.S. $80,734); the poverty rate pulls it down (21.5%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Esopus could be anywhere from C to B.
The daily commute in and out of Esopus
On a workday 3,364 residents head out to work, 169 work right here, and 512 people come in from elsewhere.
About 6,700 people are in Esopus on a workday afternoon, 30% fewer 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.
Esopus’ commute takes about 27 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Esopus workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,807 commuters (the 12% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Esopus
About 32% 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 towns that employ Esopus’ residents
Where Esopus clocks in
18% of workers
15% 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 Esopus
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Esopus, 2013 → 2023: 661 → 681. 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 Esopus’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In Esopus, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Esopus is more walkable than 46% of U.S. towns, #538 of 758 in New York. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 32.9% across New York, on an EPA index of 5.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 4,349 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 4.6% of Esopus households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of Esopus’ commuters take a bus or train.
Esopus is 1,750th of 2,790 U.S. towns of 6,700 to 12,900 on jobs and income
| # | 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 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| 4 | Lawrence NY | 6,847 | $170K | 3.5% | 3.9% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 101 | East Rockaway NY | 10,096 | $125K | 2.6% | 3.2% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 104 | North Castle NY | 12,360 | $208K | 3.8% | 3.1% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,748 | York NE | 8,284 | $63K | 11.5% | 1.7% | 47% | B− |
| 1,749 | Dalton Township MI | 9,651 | $82K | 8.6% | 6.5% | 3% | B− |
| 1,750 | Esopus NY | 9,544 | $89K | 21.5% | 3.6% | 5% | B− |
| 1,751 | Craig CO | 8,874 | $73K | 8.9% | 2.5% | 34% | B− |
| 1,752 | Silvis IL | 7,979 | $62K | 15.4% | 3.7% | 6% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,790 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Esopus, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
32% of Esopus works in a bordering town
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Esopus workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Esopus | – | B− | B− | 27 min | $88,837 |
| Rosendale | under 2% | C+ | B− | 22 min | $71,875 |
| Hyde Park | under 2% | B− | B+ | 29 min | $87,094 |
| Ulster | 6% | B− | B− | 21 min | $79,769 |
| Kingston | 18% | C | A− | 23 min | $68,186 |
| Rhinebeck | 2% | B− | A | 29 min | $93,284 |
| Lloyd | 2% | B+ | B | 31 min | $92,220 |
| New Paltz | 4% | B+ | A | 26 min | $83,133 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Kingston. Darker towns draw more of Esopus’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 Esopus: questions
What is the median household income in Esopus?
$88,837 (±$8,256) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Esopus?
21.5%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Esopus?
27 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Esopus work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Kingston (18%, 7 mi), New York City (15%, 81 mi), Ulster (6%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Esopus walkable?
Esopus is more walkable than 46% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 5.0 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Esopus without a car?
3% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Esopus, from the people who make the trip.
More of Esopus
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.