Photo: Shinerunner at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Lackawanna trail those of 85% of U.S. towns
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 3.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 12.2 in Buffalo. The poverty rate is 23.2% (New York 14.0%). Lackawanna grades C− for jobs and income and A for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Lackawanna
Commutes from Lackawanna are quick
The average trip to work takes 20 minutes, against 33 across New York. That’s about 100 hours a year less on the road than the typical New York worker. Time on the road ↓
A lot of Lackawanna works one town over
38% of working residents work in a town that borders Lackawanna: Buffalo (26%), Hamburg (7%) and West Seneca (5%). Next door ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Lackawanna than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Lackawanna fell from 8,632 in 2014 to 4,982 in 2024, −42%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
Most Lackawanna residents work close to home
62% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. How far ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Where Lackawanna’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Lackawanna is better than 25% of U.S. towns, #617 of 758 in New York. Job access by car holds Lackawanna’s grade up (ahead of 86% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Lackawanna could be anywhere from C− to C+.
About 20 minutes each way for Lackawanna’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lackawanna workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 7,120 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.
The kinds of work in Lackawanna
4,982 jobs are based in Lackawanna.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lackawanna, 2014 → 2024: 8,632 → 4,982. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Lackawanna’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many miles Lackawanna commutes
About 15% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
The daily commute in and out of Lackawanna
On a workday 6,702 residents head out to work, 732 work right here, and 4,250 people come in from elsewhere.
About 17,000 people are in Lackawanna on a workday afternoon, 13% fewer than live here.
0.67 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 2024, primary jobs.
26% of working residents work in Buffalo
Where Lackawanna clocks in
26% of workers
9% 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.
Lackawanna is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Lackawanna is more walkable than 93% of U.S. towns, #141 of 758 in New York. Both inputs place Lackawanna near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 7,722 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 47% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 3.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 75% 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). 17.5% of Lackawanna households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 4% of Lackawanna’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Lackawanna is 1,505th among 1,760 U.S. towns of 14,000 to 26,000
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 35 | Floral Park NY | 16,105 | $150K | 3.0% | 3.1% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 75 | Garden City NY | 23,043 | $244K | 3.0% | 3.9% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 86 | Victor NY | 16,422 | $116K | 2.8% | 1.6% | 16% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,503 | Bellefontaine OH | 14,151 | $59K | 18.1% | 5.3% | 25% | C− |
| 1,504 | Logansport IN | 18,287 | $47K | 16.1% | 4.3% | 26% | C− |
| 1,505 | Lackawanna NY | 19,452 | $52K | 23.2% | 6.9% | 10% | C− |
| 1,506 | Lenoir NC | 18,372 | $50K | 14.6% | 4.6% | 25% | C− |
| 1,507 | Ellensburg WA | 21,308 | $55K | 22.4% | 8.9% | 40% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,760 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 28% | 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 Lackawanna, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
Next door is work for 38% of Lackawanna
The biggest share goes to Buffalo (26%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Lackawanna workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lackawanna | – | C− | A | 20 min | $52,110 |
| Buffalo | 26% | C− | A+ | 20 min | $50,041 |
| West Seneca | 5% | B+ | B | 23 min | $79,709 |
| Hamburg | 7% | B+ | A− | 23 min | $88,651 |
| Blasdell | under 3% | C+ | A | 22 min | $69,856 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Lackawanna’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 2024, 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 Lackawanna: questions
What is the median household income in Lackawanna?
$52,110 (±$4,833) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lackawanna?
23.2%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lackawanna?
20 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 Lackawanna work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Buffalo (26%, 5 mi), Amherst (9%, 14 mi), Cheektowaga (8%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Lackawanna walkable?
Lackawanna is more walkable than 93% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 13.2 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lackawanna without a car?
4% of commuters take transit and 18% of households have no car. 47% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lackawanna, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lackawanna
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.