Groton High School · Photo: Jerrye & Roy Klotz, MD · CC BY-SA 4.0Groton has 0.3 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
For jobs and income Groton is better than 50% of U.S. towns (B−); for walkability it is more walkable than 48% of U.S. towns (B−). Groton has 746 jobs, against 2,324 working residents. About one in ten work in Groton itself; outside it, Ithaca draws the most (15%, 15 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Groton at work: what stands out
How Groton earns its Jobs & income grade
Unemployment holds Groton’s grade up (2.9%, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 34% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Groton could be anywhere from C− to A−.
From Groton, about 21 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Groton workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,501 commuters (the 11% 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.
Who works in Groton, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 2,137 residents head out to work, 187 work right here, and 559 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,800 people are in Groton on a workday afternoon, 29% 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 2024, primary jobs.
Where the trip to work from Groton ends
Where Groton clocks in
15% of workers
11% 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 Groton’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Groton, 2014 → 2024: 618 → 746. 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 Groton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Miles to work from Groton
About 16% 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.
For most of Groton, work means a drive
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 32.9% across New York, on an EPA index of 5.1.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,816 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). 6.7% of Groton households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Groton’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 3,541 U.S. towns of 3,800 to 7,300, Groton comes 1,936th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 8 | Lawrence NY | 6,847 | $170K | 3.5% | 3.9% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 16 | Irvington NY | 6,533 | $173K | 1.6% | 2.1% | 5% | A+ |
| 17 | Kings Point NY | 5,710 | $211K | 0.9% | 2.4% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,934 | Franklin Township PA | 4,421 | $89K | 7.1% | 11.1% | 7% | B− |
| 1,935 | Hilton NY | 5,873 | $87K | 12.6% | 6.2% | 9% | B− |
| 1,936 | Groton NY | 5,397 | $69K | 9.1% | 2.9% | 8% | B− |
| 1,937 | Marlboro Township OH | 4,244 | $90K | 9.1% | 8.3% | 9% | B− |
| 1,938 | Sheffield Township OH | 3,925 | $48K | 16.5% | 1.9% | 2% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,541 | 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 Groton, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
Bordering towns draw 24% of Groton’s workers
The biggest share goes to Lansing (12%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Groton workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Groton | – | B− | B− | 21 min | $69,113 |
| Lansing | 12% | C+ | B+ | 20 min | $86,342 |
| Dryden | 7% | C+ | B | 19 min | $81,127 |
| Summerhill | under 2% | C− | D− | 29 min | $68,047 |
| Locke | under 2% | C− | D− | 23 min | $69,125 |
| McLean | under 2% | — | — | 12 min | — |
| Cortlandville | 5% | C+ | B+ | 21 min | $73,617 |
Same-state neighbors only. McLean: a Census-designated place inside a larger town, graded as part of it. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Groton’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 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 Groton: questions
What is the median household income in Groton?
$69,113 (±$11,526) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Groton?
9.1%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Groton?
21 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Groton work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Ithaca (15%, 15 mi), Lansing (12%, 9 mi), Ithaca (11%, 12 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Groton walkable?
Groton is more walkable than 48% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 5.1 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Groton without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Groton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Groton
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.