Photo: Village of Fayetteville · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Fayetteville have higher incomes than those in 91% of U.S. towns
Fayetteville grades A for jobs and income and A for walkability. Below the poverty line: 5.2% of residents; New York has 14.0%. For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 4.3 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 33.1 in Syracuse.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Fayetteville at work: what stands out
Fayetteville trades workers with the towns around it
Fayetteville has about as many jobs (1,792) as working residents (1,684), but they are mostly different people: 1,627 residents leave for work each day while 1,735 people come in. Only 3% of the jobs in Fayetteville are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Fayetteville
69% of Fayetteville residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 41% of the jobs based in Fayetteville pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 97% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Fayetteville are quick
The average trip to work takes 24 minutes, against 33 across New York. That’s about 69 hours a year less on the road than the typical New York worker. Time on the road ↓
Fayetteville has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Fayetteville went from 1,110 in 2014 to 1,792 in 2024, +61%. The jobs ↓
Most Fayetteville residents work close to home
63% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. How far ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Income, poverty and work: Fayetteville’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Fayetteville is better than 94% of U.S. towns, #46 of 758 in New York. Household income is its strongest input ($127,559, U.S. $80,734); job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 68% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Fayetteville could be anywhere from A− to A+.
In and out of Fayetteville on a workday
On a workday 1,627 residents head out to work, 57 work right here, and 1,735 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 (1.06 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Mostly services: health care, schools and offices
1,792 jobs are based in Fayetteville.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fayetteville, 2014 → 2024: 1,110 → 1,792. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Fayetteville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 24 minutes to work from Fayetteville
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fayetteville workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,734 commuters (the 19% 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 Fayetteville
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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
31% of working residents work in Syracuse
Where Fayetteville clocks in
31% 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.
In Fayetteville, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Fayetteville is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns, #205 of 758 in New York. Both inputs place Fayetteville near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,130 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 82% 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 4.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 81% 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). 2.0% of Fayetteville households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Fayetteville’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Fayetteville ranks: 257th of 4,112 U.S. towns of 2,900 to 5,600
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 7 | Lloyd Harbor NY | 3,587 | $250K | 2.1% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 20 | North Hills NY | 5,481 | $173K | 3.0% | 1.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 52 | Great Neck Estates NY | 3,139 | $238K | 5.7% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 255 | Arcola VA | 3,509 | $129K | 7.1% | 1.7% | 3% | A |
| 256 | Sherman IL | 4,644 | $149K | 2.2% | 2.6% | 5% | A |
| 257 | Fayetteville NY | 4,126 | $128K | 5.2% | 1.5% | 3% | A |
| 258 | Williams Township IL | 3,426 | $126K | 4.2% | 0.4% | 3% | A |
| 259 | Sylvan Township MI | 3,545 | $103K | 2.0% | 2.2% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,112 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 19% | 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 Fayetteville, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2024, 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 Fayetteville: questions
What is the median household income in Fayetteville?
$127,559 (±$16,677) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fayetteville?
5.2%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fayetteville?
24 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 19% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fayetteville work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Syracuse (31%, 7 mi), Manlius (14%, 2 mi), DeWitt (13%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Fayetteville walkable?
Fayetteville is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 11.2 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Fayetteville without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Fayetteville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fayetteville
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.