Kaser ranks among the lowest-earning U.S. towns by household income
Measured by household income, Kaser is among the lowest-earning towns in the country. 65.5% of residents live below the poverty line; New York has 14.0%. For jobs and income Kaser is better than 19% of U.S. towns (C−); for walkability it is more walkable than 96% of U.S. towns (A+).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Kaser apart on work
Commutes from Kaser are quick
The average trip to work takes 16 minutes, against 33 across New York. That’s about 130 hours a year less on the road than the typical New York worker. Time on the road ↓
Kaser and Ramapo trade workers both ways
Ramapo is the top workplace for Kaser residents (43%) and also where the most people who work in Kaser come from (74% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
A young workforce
34% of Kaser’s working residents are 29 or younger, about one in three. The jobs ↓
Many jobs in Kaser pay little
30% of the jobs based in Kaser pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. Young workers hold many of them: 36% of all the jobs here go to people 29 or younger. The jobs ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Kaser
45% of Kaser residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 25% of the jobs based in Kaser pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 97% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
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.
Jobs & income in Kaser: the grade in detail
Job access by car holds Kaser’s grade up (ahead of 94% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Kaser could be anywhere from D to B−.
About 16 minutes to work from Kaser
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Kaser workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,348 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.
43% of working residents work in Ramapo
Where Kaser clocks in
43% of workers
23% of workers
3% 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 work there is in Kaser: 453 jobs
453 jobs are based in Kaser.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Kaser, 2013 → 2023: 174 → 453. 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 Kaser’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The workday shuffle in and out of Kaser
On a workday 1,562 residents head out to work, 45 work right here, and 408 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,000 people are in Kaser on a workday afternoon, 19% fewer than live here.
0.28 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Kaser
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.
Kaser is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 47.9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 32.9% across New York, on an EPA index of 9.9.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,470 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 32% 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). 56.0% of Kaser households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 15% of Kaser’s commuters take a bus or train.
Kaser next to U.S. towns of 4,300 to 8,300: 2,834th of 3,370 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 15 | Irvington NY | 6,533 | $173K | 1.6% | 2.1% | 6% | A+ |
| 16 | Kings Point NY | 5,710 | $211K | 0.9% | 2.4% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,832 | Red Oak IA | 5,388 | $50K | 21.9% | 2.9% | 33% | C− |
| 2,833 | Carmi IL | 4,623 | $48K | 21.8% | 2.7% | 30% | C− |
| 2,834 | Kaser NY | 6,121 | $27K | 65.5% | 7.0% | 3% | C− |
| 2,835 | Newport NC | 4,500 | $56K | 10.7% | 6.2% | 7% | C− |
| 2,836 | Greenport NY | 4,337 | — | 18.0% | 6.1% | 10% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,370 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Kaser, 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 Kaser: questions
What is the median household income in Kaser?
$26,848 (±$7,400) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Kaser?
65.5%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Kaser?
16 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 Kaser work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Ramapo (43%, 2 mi), New York City (23%, 32 mi), Palm Tree (3%, 16 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Kaser walkable?
Kaser is more walkable than 96% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 9.9 out of 20, and 48% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Kaser without a car?
15% of commuters take transit and 56% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Kaser, from the people who make the trip.
More of Kaser
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.