Marcellus has higher unemployment (13.7%) than 98% of U.S. towns
For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 1.3 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 33.1 in Syracuse. Jobs and income earn Marcellus C+; getting around on foot earns it A−. About one in ten work in Marcellus; the top destination outside it is Syracuse (26%, 11 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The four measures behind Marcellus’ grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Marcellus is better than 36% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Marcellus’ grade up (ahead of 61% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down. It also does well on the poverty rate.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Marcellus could be anywhere from C− to A.
Who commutes out of Marcellus, and who commutes in
On a workday 762 residents head out to work, 69 work right here, and 663 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 (0.88 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.
Where Marcellus goes to work
Where Marcellus clocks in
26% 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.
Mostly services: health care, schools and offices
732 jobs are based in Marcellus.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Marcellus, 2013 → 2023: 712 → 732. 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 Marcellus’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Time on the road from Marcellus: about 29 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Marcellus workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 785 commuters (the 11% 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.
How far Marcellus’ workers travel
About 17% 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.
Marcellus is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Marcellus is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 32.9% across New York.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 885 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, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 62% 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). 9.0% of Marcellus households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Marcellus’ commuters take a bus or train.
Marcellus next to U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,400: 3,243rd of 6,085 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 8 | Atlantic Beach NY | 1,723 | $166K | 1.8% | 3.1% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,241 | Marissa Township IL | 2,149 | $68K | 11.5% | 9.8% | 7% | C+ |
| 3,242 | Llano Grande TX | 2,283 | $40K | 11.3% | 10.6% | 1% | C+ |
| 3,243 | Marcellus NY | 1,761 | $69K | 8.7% | 13.7% | 8% | C+ |
| 3,244 | Malakoff TX | 2,253 | $57K | 20.5% | 0.3% | 11% | C+ |
| 3,245 | Valley Brook Township KS | 1,503 | $77K | 12.6% | 0.0% | 11% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6,085 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 Marcellus, 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 Marcellus: questions
What is the median household income in Marcellus?
$69,407 (±$11,218) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Marcellus?
8.7%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Marcellus?
29 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Marcellus work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Syracuse (26%, 11 mi), Marcellus (11%, 3 mi), DeWitt (5%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Marcellus walkable?
Marcellus is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 11.2 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Marcellus without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Marcellus, from the people who make the trip.
More of Marcellus
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.