Rogues Harbor Inn · Photo: Jerrye & Roy Klotz, MD · CC BY-SA 4.0Lansing has higher unemployment (5.6%) than 69% of U.S. towns
About one in seven stay in Lansing for work; outside it, Ithaca is the main destination (32%, 11 miles). Jobs and income earn Lansing C+; getting around on foot earns it B+. The average commute takes 20 minutes each way, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Lansing stands out on work
Commutes from Lansing 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 Lansing works one town over
36% of working residents work in a town that borders Lansing: Ithaca (32%) and Dryden (4%). Next door ↓
Most Lansing residents work close to home
60% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. How far ↓
Lansing makes and builds things
35% of the jobs based in Lansing are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Lansing residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 10%. 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.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Lansing
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Lansing is better than 39% of U.S. towns, #500 of 758 in New York. Household income holds Lansing’s grade up ($86,342, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Lansing could be anywhere from C− to B+.
The daily trip from Lansing: about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lansing workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,393 commuters (the 16% 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 commute from Lansing, by distance
About 16% 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 Lansing, 35% of jobs are in factories, building or farming
6,060 jobs are based in Lansing.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lansing, 2013 → 2023: 7,282 → 6,060. 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 Lansing’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who leaves Lansing for work, and who comes in
On a workday 3,986 residents head out to work, 730 work right here, and 5,330 people come in from elsewhere.
About 13,000 people are in Lansing on a workday afternoon, 11% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.28 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.
The places Lansing commutes to
Where Lansing clocks in
32% of workers
14% of workers
4% 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.
Most of Lansing commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Lansing is more walkable than 70% of U.S. towns, #375 of 758 in New York. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 13.9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 32.9% across New York, on an EPA index of 5.9.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 6,449 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). 5.5% of Lansing households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 5% of Lansing’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 8,000 to 16,000, Lansing ranks 1,880th of 2,695 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 99 | East Rockaway NY | 10,096 | $125K | 2.6% | 3.2% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 102 | North Castle NY | 12,360 | $208K | 3.8% | 3.1% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 140 | Hastings-on-Hudson NY | 8,440 | $194K | 2.3% | 4.1% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,878 | Warren PA | 9,046 | $54K | 9.9% | 3.1% | 42% | C+ |
| 1,879 | Watervliet NY | 10,242 | $58K | 18.4% | 4.5% | 6% | C+ |
| 1,880 | Lansing NY | 11,786 | $86K | 13.4% | 5.6% | 15% | C+ |
| 1,881 | Lahaina HI | 10,162 | $89K | 11.5% | 5.8% | 20% | C+ |
| 1,882 | Lincoln IL | 12,981 | $57K | 17.0% | 2.9% | 31% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,695 | Roma TX | 11,543 | $25K | 37.1% | 12.4% | 22% | 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 Lansing, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
Lansing and its neighbors: 36% work next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Lansing workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lansing | – | C+ | B+ | 20 min | $86,342 |
| Genoa | under 1% | B | C | 23 min | $92,833 |
| Covert | under 1% | C+ | C | 23 min | $75,688 |
| Groton | under 1% | B− | B− | 21 min | $69,113 |
| Ulysses | under 1% | C | B− | 26 min | $71,400 |
| Ithaca | 32% | B | A− | 17 min | $105,978 |
| Locke | under 1% | C− | D− | 23 min | $69,125 |
| Dryden | 4% | C+ | B | 19 min | $81,127 |
| Cayuga Heights | under 1% | B+ | A | 13 min | $166,526 |
| Northeast Ithaca | under 1% | — | — | 15 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Northeast Ithaca: a Census-designated place inside a larger town, graded as part of it. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Ithaca. Darker towns draw more of Lansing’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 Lansing: questions
What is the median household income in Lansing?
$86,342 (±$15,075) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lansing?
13.4%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lansing?
20 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 16% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lansing work?
15% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Ithaca (32%, 11 mi), Ithaca (14%, 9 mi), Dryden (4%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lansing walkable?
Lansing is more walkable than 70% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 5.9 out of 20, and 14% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lansing without a car?
5% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lansing, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lansing
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.