Cobblestone Historic District · Photo: Daniel Case · CC BY-SA 3.0Most of Gaines commutes out: there are 0.2 jobs for every working resident
Measured by household income, Gaines is behind 79% of U.S. towns. 304 jobs are based in Gaines; 1,326 of its residents have a job. The two grades for Gaines are C− for jobs and income and C for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Gaines: the figures worth knowing
Gaines makes and builds things
76% of the jobs based in Gaines are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Gaines residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 22%. The jobs ↓
Gaines and Albion trade workers both ways
Albion is the top workplace for Gaines residents (21%) and also where the most people who work in Gaines come from (31% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Gaines is a place people come home to
There are 304 jobs based in Gaines, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Gaines has about 2,300 people in it, 31% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Gaines are quick
The average trip to work takes 28 minutes, against 33 across New York. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical New York worker. Time on the road ↓
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.
Inside Gaines’ Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Gaines is better than 22% of U.S. towns, #631 of 758 in New York. The poverty rate holds Gaines’ grade up (10.6%, U.S. 12.5%); unemployment pulls it down (7.5%, U.S. 5.2%).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Gaines could be anywhere from D to B.
Making and building: 76% of jobs based in Gaines
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Gaines, 2013 → 2023: 199 → 304. 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 Gaines’s own residents hold wherever they work.
21% of working residents work in Albion
Where Gaines clocks in
21% 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.
In and out of Gaines on a workday
On a workday 1,284 residents head out to work, 42 work right here, and 262 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,300 people are in Gaines on a workday afternoon, 31% 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.
How long Gaines spends getting to work: about 28 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Gaines workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,331 commuters (the 14% 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.
How many miles Gaines commutes
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.
Most trips from Gaines start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Gaines is more walkable than 31% of U.S. towns, #642 of 758 in New York. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 1.9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 32.9% across New York, on an EPA index of 5.5.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,541 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). 6.2% of Gaines households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Gaines’ commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 2,300 to 4,500, Gaines ranks 3,579th of 4,593 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | East Williston NY | 2,616 | $215K | 2.3% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 10 | Lloyd Harbor NY | 3,587 | $250K | 2.1% | 0.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 49 | Great Neck Estates NY | 3,139 | $238K | 5.7% | 1.7% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,577 | Wheatland WY | 3,516 | $59K | 9.2% | 4.9% | 48% | C− |
| 3,578 | Mason Township MI | 2,874 | $60K | 22.0% | 6.8% | 2% | C− |
| 3,579 | Gaines NY | 3,301 | $57K | 10.6% | 7.5% | 3% | C− |
| 3,580 | Hilliard FL | 3,161 | $65K | 25.2% | 2.6% | 5% | C− |
| 3,581 | Wellsboro PA | 3,393 | $66K | 9.3% | 6.8% | 32% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,593 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Gaines, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
Work next door: 21% of Gaines’ workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
The biggest share goes to Albion. Darker towns draw more of Gaines’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 Gaines: questions
What is the median household income in Gaines?
$56,582 (±$8,297) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Gaines?
10.6%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Gaines?
28 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Gaines work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Albion (21%, 4 mi), Rochester (7%, 30 mi), Ridgeway (5%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Gaines walkable?
Gaines is more walkable than 31% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 5.5 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Gaines without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Gaines, from the people who make the trip.
More of Gaines
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.