Photo: Daniel Case · CC BY-SA 3.0Kinderhook has 0.5 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
2,005 jobs are based in Kinderhook for 3,705 working residents. For jobs and income Kinderhook is better than 39% of U.S. towns (C+); for walkability it is more walkable than 54% of U.S. towns (B−). About one in seven stay in Kinderhook for work; outside it, Albany is the main destination (15%, 19 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Kinderhook in brief
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Kinderhook
Household income holds Kinderhook’s grade up ($81,989, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down (6.7%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Kinderhook could be anywhere from C− to B+.
About 26 minutes each way, quicker than most of New York
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Kinderhook workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,149 commuters (the 18% 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 daily flow of workers through Kinderhook
On a workday 3,129 residents head out to work, 576 work right here, and 1,429 people come in from elsewhere.
About 6,400 people are in Kinderhook on a workday afternoon, 21% fewer than live here.
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 Kinderhook to work: where people go
Where Kinderhook clocks in
15% of workers
8% of workers
6% 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 kinds of work in Kinderhook
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Kinderhook, 2013 → 2023: 1,798 → 2,005. 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 Kinderhook’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Miles to work from Kinderhook
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.
In Kinderhook, most people drive to work
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 3,841 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). 4.4% of Kinderhook households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Kinderhook’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 2,966 U.S. towns of 5,700 to 10,900, Kinderhook comes 2,028th 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 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | Lawrence NY | 6,847 | $170K | 3.5% | 3.9% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | Irvington NY | 6,533 | $173K | 1.6% | 2.1% | 6% | A+ |
| 15 | Kings Point NY | 5,710 | $211K | 0.9% | 2.4% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,026 | Country Club CA | 10,161 | $81K | 15.4% | 10.4% | 1% | C+ |
| 2,027 | Somers Point NJ | 10,590 | $71K | 9.2% | 10.5% | 12% | C+ |
| 2,028 | Kinderhook NY | 8,091 | $82K | 8.8% | 6.7% | 16% | C+ |
| 2,029 | Clinton IL | 6,781 | $62K | 14.5% | 3.7% | 30% | C+ |
| 2,030 | Hastings MI | 7,490 | $58K | 12.5% | 3.7% | 21% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,966 | 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 Kinderhook, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
The towns around Kinderhook
The biggest share goes to Ghent (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Kinderhook workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kinderhook | – | C+ | B− | 26 min | $81,989 |
| Chatham | 2% | B | B | 28 min | $107,270 |
| Stuyvesant | under 3% | C− | C+ | 25 min | $66,000 |
| Ghent | 3% | C+ | B+ | 27 min | $82,092 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Kinderhook’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 Kinderhook: questions
What is the median household income in Kinderhook?
$81,989 (±$22,635) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Kinderhook?
8.8%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Kinderhook?
26 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 18% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Kinderhook work?
16% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Albany (15%, 19 mi), New York City (8%, 121 mi), Colonie (6%, 24 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Kinderhook walkable?
Kinderhook is more walkable than 54% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 6.9 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Kinderhook without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Kinderhook, from the people who make the trip.
More of Kinderhook
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.