Photo: Nheyob · CC BY-SA 3.0Grafton has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.2 for each
164 jobs are based in Grafton for 902 working residents. Grafton grades B− for jobs and income and D− for walkability. Household incomes here are higher than in 77% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Grafton, in brief
Inside Grafton’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Grafton is better than 51% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Grafton’s grade up ($100,809, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 14% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate.
Unemployment (0.9%) is left out: Grafton’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Grafton could be anywhere from C to B+.
How many people are in Grafton by day
On a workday 871 residents head out to work, 31 work right here, and 133 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,400 people are in Grafton on a workday afternoon, 35% 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.
15% of working residents work in Albany
Where Grafton clocks in
15% of workers
12% of workers
8% 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.
What Grafton’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Grafton, 2013 → 2023: 131 → 164. 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 Grafton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Grafton spends getting to work: about 33 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Grafton workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 881 commuters (the 10% 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 Grafton commutes
About 17% 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.
In Grafton, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Grafton is more walkable than 5% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Grafton 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 976 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). 1.6% of Grafton households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Grafton’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Grafton ranks: 2,053rd of 5,148 U.S. towns of 1,500 to 2,800
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 7 | Atlantic Beach NY | 1,723 | $166K | 1.8% | 3.1% | 3% | A+ |
| 8 | Village of the Branch NY | 1,764 | $174K | 1.5% | 3.1% | 2% | A+ |
| 9 | Old Brookville NY | 2,098 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,051 | Filer Township MI | 2,289 | $75K | 3.8% | 3.8% | 7% | B− |
| 2,052 | Nessel Township MN | 1,960 | $86K | 6.3% | 2.9% | 1% | B− |
| 2,053 | Grafton NY | 2,098 | $101K | 8.0% | 0.9% | 3% | B− |
| 2,054 | Pinehurst ID | 1,780 | $69K | 7.5% | 1.3% | 8% | B− |
| 2,055 | Hillsboro ND | 1,648 | $81K | 6.9% | 1.7% | 34% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,148 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Grafton, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
Next door to Grafton
The biggest share goes to Brunswick (4%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Grafton workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grafton | – | B− | D− | 33 min | $100,809 |
| Poestenkill | under 3% | A | D | 25 min | $126,250 |
| Pittstown | under 3% | C+ | D | 29 min | $92,098 |
| Brunswick | 4% | A | C+ | 27 min | $107,350 |
| Petersburgh | under 3% | B− | D | 30 min | $77,692 |
| Berlin | under 3% | B | C | 33 min | $80,313 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Grafton’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 Grafton: questions
What is the median household income in Grafton?
$100,809 (±$24,276) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Grafton?
8.0%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Grafton?
33 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Grafton work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Albany (15%, 19 mi), Colonie (12%, 17 mi), Troy (8%, 11 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Grafton walkable?
Grafton is more walkable than 5% of U.S. towns (Walkability D−): an EPA walkability index of 4.5 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Grafton without a car?
0% 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 Grafton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Grafton
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.