Schoolhouse No. 5 · Photo: Vonsky87 · CC BY-SA 3.0Hamden’s household incomes are lower than in 67% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Hamden C−; getting around on foot earns it C+. The poverty rate is 11.2%, next to 14.0% for New York as a whole. Only 8% stay in Hamden for work; outside it, Delhi is the main destination (24%, 6 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Hamden apart
A lot of Hamden works one town over
36% of working residents work in a town that borders Hamden: Delhi (24%), Andes (7%) and Walton (3%). Next door ↓
A big share show a job far from home
36% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Commutes from Hamden 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 ↓
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; with 420 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Hamden’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Hamden is better than 18% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Hamden’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 4% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (7.5%) is left out: Hamden’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, Hamden could be anywhere from D to C+.
The distance from Hamden to work
About 36% 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.
From Hamden, about 24 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Hamden workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 480 commuters (the 9% 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 leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 387 residents head out to work, 33 work right here, and 325 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 (0.85 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Out of Hamden to work: where people go
Where Hamden clocks in
24% 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.
Inside Hamden’s 358 jobs
358 jobs are based in Hamden.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Hamden, 2013 → 2023: 317 → 358. 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 Hamden’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Few in Hamden walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Hamden is more walkable than 41% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 5.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 32.9% across New York, on an EPA index of 4.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 530 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). 2.7% of Hamden households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Hamden’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 3,771 U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500, Hamden comes 2,676th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 4 | Saddle Rock NY | 1,008 | $176K | 0.8% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,674 | Breckenridge MI | 1,265 | $58K | 18.0% | 7.5% | 8% | C− |
| 2,675 | Spring Hope NC | 1,383 | $38K | 11.1% | 2.3% | 4% | C− |
| 2,676 | Hamden NY | 1,121 | $64K | 11.2% | 7.5% | 8% | C− |
| 2,677 | Bloomfield Township OH | 1,145 | $48K | 8.5% | 0.0% | 1% | C− |
| 2,678 | Blanchard Township OH | 1,399 | $60K | 15.7% | 3.7% | 1% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,771 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Hamden, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
Next door is work for 36% of Hamden
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Hamden workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hamden | – | C− | C+ | 24 min | $64,457 |
| Delhi | 24% | C− | A− | 15 min | $63,043 |
| Walton | 3% | D− | B+ | 17 min | $49,183 |
| Colchester | 2% | C− | C+ | 33 min | $67,222 |
| Andes | 7% | C− | B | 26 min | $75,000 |
| Franklin | under 2% | C | B− | 27 min | $64,323 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Delhi. Darker towns draw more of Hamden’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 Hamden: questions
What is the median household income in Hamden?
$64,457 (±$14,117) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Hamden?
11.2%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Hamden?
24 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Hamden work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Delhi (24%, 6 mi), New York City (7%, 119 mi), Andes (7%, 11 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Hamden walkable?
Hamden is more walkable than 41% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 4.2 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Hamden without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Hamden, from the people who make the trip.
More of Hamden
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.