Photo: Daniel Tripp · Public domainHouseholds in Keene earn more than those in 72% of U.S. towns
26% of workers work from home, against 15% across New York. Poverty touches 3.8% of residents (New York 14.0%). Keene grades B for jobs and income and B+ for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Keene: the figures worth knowing
A lot of Keene works one town over
36% of working residents work in a town that borders Keene: Elizabethtown (22%), North Elba (13%) and Jay (1%). Next door ↓
Home offices are common in Keene
27% of Keene 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; with 353 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Keene
On income, poverty and job access, Keene is better than 57% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Keene’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 3% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (0.0%) is left out: Keene’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, Keene could be anywhere from C− to B+.
About 33 minutes each way, about the NY average
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Keene workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 277 commuters (the 27% 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.
The workday shuffle in and out of Keene
On a workday 314 residents head out to work, 39 work right here, and 365 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 (1.14 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.
22% of working residents work in Elizabethtown
Where Keene clocks in
22% of workers
13% 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 Keene’s 404 jobs
404 jobs are based in Keene.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Keene, 2013 → 2023: 293 → 404. 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 Keene’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Short hops and long hauls from Keene
About 25% 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.
In Keene, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Keene is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 6.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 32.9% across New York, on an EPA index of 6.5.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 377 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). 1.9% of Keene households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Keene’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500, Keene ranks 1,020th of 3,771 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,018 | Lake Shore MN | 1,127 | $97K | 5.8% | 1.6% | 3% | B |
| 1,019 | Quarry Township IL | 1,158 | $74K | 5.6% | 3.5% | 11% | B |
| 1,020 | Keene NY | 1,121 | $94K | 3.8% | 0.0% | 11% | B |
| 1,021 | Stanchfield Township MN | 1,198 | $88K | 7.5% | 8.5% | 1% | B |
| 1,022 | Lewiston WI | 1,244 | $91K | 9.6% | 1.8% | 2% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 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 Keene, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
Work next door: 36% of Keene’s workers
The biggest share goes to Elizabethtown (22%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Keene workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keene | – | B | B+ | 33 min | $93,542 |
| North Hudson | under 2% | — | — | 23 min | — |
| Elizabethtown | 22% | D | B− | 16 min | $57,222 |
| North Elba | 13% | B− | A | 15 min | $72,843 |
| Jay | 1% | B− | C− | 28 min | $72,380 |
| Newcomb | under 2% | — | — | 17 min | — |
| Wilmington | under 2% | B− | B− | 34 min | $82,344 |
Same-state neighbors only. North Hudson and Newcomb: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Keene’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 Keene: questions
What is the median household income in Keene?
$93,542 (±$40,363) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Keene?
3.8%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Keene?
33 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 26% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Keene work?
11% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Elizabethtown (22%, 12 mi), North Elba (13%, 10 mi), Westport (7%, 22 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Keene walkable?
Keene is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 6.5 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Keene without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Keene, from the people who make the trip.
More of Keene
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.