Photo: Billy Hathorn · CC BY-SA 3.0Fewer people are out of work in Homer (1.1%) than in 94% of U.S. towns
Working from home is the commute for 8% of workers, next to 15% for New York as a whole. Homer grades B+ for jobs and income and A− for walkability. About one in ten work in Homer itself; outside it, Cortland draws the most (21%, 2 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Homer apart
Inside Homer’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Homer is better than 72% of U.S. towns, #235 of 758 in New York. Unemployment holds Homer’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($72,472, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Homer could be anywhere from B− to A.
From Homer, about 22 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Homer workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,574 commuters (the 8% 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.
In and out of Homer on a workday
On a workday 1,253 residents head out to work, 169 work right here, and 863 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,700 people are in Homer on a workday afternoon, 13% fewer than live here.
0.73 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 Homer ends
Where Homer clocks in
21% of workers
12% of workers
12% 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.
Mostly services: health care, schools and offices
1,032 jobs are based in Homer.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Homer, 2013 → 2023: 962 → 1,032. 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 Homer’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Half of Homer commutes less than 11 miles
About 20% 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.
Homer is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Homer is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns, #256 of 758 in New York. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 9.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 32.9% across New York, on an EPA index of 7.6.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,720 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). 4.6% of Homer households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Homer’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Homer ranks: 1,192nd of 4,771 U.S. towns of 2,100 to 4,100
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 46 | Great Neck Estates NY | 3,139 | $238K | 5.7% | 1.7% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,190 | West Pottsgrove Township PA | 3,798 | $81K | 8.4% | 3.5% | 3% | B+ |
| 1,191 | Del Monte Forest CA | 3,613 | $143K | 6.1% | 5.2% | 9% | B+ |
| 1,192 | Homer NY | 3,054 | $72K | 6.2% | 1.1% | 12% | B+ |
| 1,193 | Lennox SD | 2,657 | $82K | 9.6% | 1.0% | 9% | B+ |
| 1,194 | Cherry Grove Township MI | 2,444 | $97K | 5.2% | 1.1% | 7% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,771 | 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 Homer, 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 Homer: questions
What is the median household income in Homer?
$72,472 (±$10,536) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Homer?
6.2%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Homer?
22 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Homer work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Cortland (21%, 2 mi), Homer (12%, 2 mi), Cortlandville (12%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Homer walkable?
Homer is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.6 out of 20, and 9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Homer without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Homer, from the people who make the trip.
More of Homer
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.