Photo: Kenneth C. Zirkel · CC BY-SA 4.0There are 2.8 jobs in Ithaca for every working resident, and 16,174 people commute in
The two grades for Ithaca are B for jobs and income and A− for walkability. There are 18,717 jobs in Ithaca for 6,745 working residents. Household incomes here are higher than in 81% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Ithaca
Commutes from Ithaca are quick
The average trip to work takes 17 minutes, against 33 across New York. That’s about 123 hours a year less on the road than the typical New York worker. Time on the road ↓
Ithaca is where the jobs are
Ithaca has 18,717 jobs, 2.8 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 33,000 people are in town, 58% more than the 21,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
Nearly all the work in Ithaca is services
97% of the jobs based here are in services, such as health care, schools and offices. Only 1% are in factories, building or farms. The jobs ↓
Ithaca and Ithaca trade workers both ways
Ithaca is the top workplace for Ithaca residents (16%) and also where the most people who work in Ithaca come from (19% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Home offices are common in Ithaca
25% of Ithaca workers work from home, against 15% across New York. 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.
How Ithaca earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Ithaca is better than 62% of U.S. towns, #317 of 758 in New York. Household income holds Ithaca’s grade up ($105,978, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down (4.5%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Ithaca could be anywhere from C+ to A−.
A commute of about 17 minutes in Ithaca
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ithaca workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 6,452 commuters (the 25% 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 people are in Ithaca by day
On a workday 4,202 residents head out to work and 2,543 work right here.
About 33,000 people are in Ithaca on a workday afternoon, 58% more than live here.
2.8 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
Services make up most of the work in Ithaca
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ithaca, 2013 → 2023: 17,535 → 18,717. 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 Ithaca’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where Ithaca’s workers come from
Where Ithaca clocks in
16% of workers
5% 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.
The distance from Ithaca to work
About 23% 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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Ithaca
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 25.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 32.9% across New York, on an EPA index of 6.9.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 8,628 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). 12.4% of Ithaca households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 7% of Ithaca’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Ithaca is 1,044th of 1,931 U.S. towns of 14,000 to 28,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ada Township MI | 14,769 | $168K | 2.0% | 0.7% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 38 | Floral Park NY | 16,105 | $150K | 3.0% | 3.1% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 82 | Garden City NY | 23,043 | $244K | 3.0% | 3.9% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 94 | Victor NY | 16,422 | $116K | 2.8% | 1.6% | 16% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,042 | West Richland WA | 19,257 | $120K | 8.5% | 4.8% | 7% | B |
| 1,043 | Sycamore Township OH | 19,651 | $83K | 8.5% | 6.2% | 6% | B |
| 1,044 | Ithaca NY | 20,670 | $106K | 9.3% | 4.5% | 38% | B |
| 1,045 | South Milwaukee WI | 20,191 | $73K | 13.1% | 3.6% | 7% | B |
| 1,046 | Live Oak CA | 16,911 | $104K | 12.9% | 4.1% | 11% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,931 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Ithaca, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
Work in the towns next to Ithaca
The biggest share goes to Lansing (5%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Ithaca workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ithaca | – | B | A− | 17 min | $105,978 |
| Dryden | 2% | C+ | B | 19 min | $81,127 |
| Lansing | 5% | C+ | B+ | 20 min | $86,342 |
| Lansing | under 1% | C | A− | 16 min | $72,364 |
| Enfield | under 1% | B | C+ | 31 min | $94,750 |
| Cayuga Heights | under 1% | B+ | A | 13 min | $166,526 |
| Danby | under 1% | A− | D− | 22 min | $99,886 |
| Newfield | under 1% | C+ | C+ | 26 min | $74,333 |
| Ulysses | under 1% | C | B− | 26 min | $71,400 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Ithaca’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 Ithaca: questions
What is the median household income in Ithaca?
$105,978 (±$17,785) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ithaca?
9.3%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ithaca?
17 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 25% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ithaca work?
38% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Ithaca (16%, 3 mi), Lansing (5%, 11 mi), New York City (5%, 181 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Ithaca walkable?
Ithaca is more walkable than 81% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 6.9 out of 20, and 25% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ithaca without a car?
7% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Ithaca, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ithaca
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.