Household incomes in Groton are lower than in 74% of U.S. towns
About one in ten work in Groton itself; outside it, Groton draws the most (12%, 0 miles). 8.2% of residents live below the poverty line; New York has 14.0%. For jobs and income Groton is better than 36% of U.S. towns (C+); for walkability it is more walkable than 69% of U.S. towns (B+).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Groton
What’s behind Groton’s Jobs & income grade
The poverty rate holds Groton’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($60,114, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (1.7%) is left out: Groton’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, Groton could be anywhere from C− to B.
Getting to work from Groton takes about 23 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.5 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 789 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.
Groton by day and by night
On a workday 850 residents head out to work, 96 work right here, and 515 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,700 people are in Groton on a workday afternoon, 16% fewer than live here.
0.65 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Where the trip to work from Groton ends
Where Groton clocks in
12% of workers
10% 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 Groton, services account for most jobs
611 jobs are based in Groton.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Groton, 2013 → 2023: 638 → 611. 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 Groton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far it is to work from Groton
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.
For most of Groton, work means a drive
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 5.9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 32.9% across New York, on an EPA index of 6.8.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 875 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). 15.0% 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 5,148 U.S. towns of 1,500 to 2,800, Groton comes 2,898th 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 | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,896 | Stonycreek Township PA | 2,081 | $73K | 8.2% | 4.8% | 6% | C+ |
| 2,897 | Channel Lake IL | 2,052 | $68K | 23.1% | 5.3% | 1% | C+ |
| 2,898 | Groton NY | 2,077 | $60K | 8.2% | 1.7% | 10% | C+ |
| 2,899 | Livermore ME | 2,229 | $70K | 8.0% | 2.0% | 6% | C+ |
| 2,900 | Grant Township MI | 1,795 | $87K | 10.7% | 2.4% | 1% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 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 Groton, 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 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 Groton: questions
What is the median household income in Groton?
$60,114 (±$10,355) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Groton?
8.2%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Groton?
23 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 Groton work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Groton (12%, 0 mi), Ithaca (12%, 15 mi), Ithaca (10%, 12 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Groton walkable?
Groton is more walkable than 69% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 6.8 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Groton without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 15% 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), 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.