Fewer people are out of work in Mexico (0.9%) than in 95% of U.S. towns
6% of workers work from home, against 15% across New York. Mexico grades B+ for jobs and income and B− for walkability. Only 7% stay in Mexico for work; outside it, Oswego is the main destination (12%, 14 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Mexico
Where Mexico’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Mexico is better than 65% of U.S. towns. Unemployment holds Mexico’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 37% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Mexico could be anywhere from B− to A−.
About 28 minutes each way for Mexico’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Mexico workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 979 commuters (the 6% 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.
Mexico by day and by night
On a workday 606 residents head out to work, 45 work right here, and 751 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 (1.22 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 Mexico’s working residents head each day
Where Mexico clocks in
12% of workers
11% 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.
Mexico is a services town
796 jobs are based in Mexico.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Mexico, 2013 → 2023: 892 → 796. 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 Mexico’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many miles Mexico commutes
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.
For most of Mexico, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Mexico is more walkable than 52% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 3.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 32.9% across New York, on an EPA index of 6.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,039 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 2.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 68% 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). 5.8% of Mexico households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Mexico’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,100, Mexico ranks 1,320th of 5,794 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 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 4 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 5 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,318 | Howard Township IN | 1,220 | $96K | 0.4% | 0.0% | <1% | B+ |
| 1,319 | Stow Creek Township NJ | 1,356 | $105K | 7.8% | 8.4% | 4% | B+ |
| 1,320 | Mexico NY | 1,553 | $73K | 8.1% | 0.9% | 7% | B+ |
| 1,321 | Flat Rock Township IN | 1,641 | $89K | 7.3% | 0.6% | 1% | B+ |
| 1,322 | Sharon VT | 1,542 | $84K | 3.0% | 2.9% | 4% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,794 | 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 Mexico, 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 Mexico: questions
What is the median household income in Mexico?
$73,229 (±$9,787) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Mexico?
8.1%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Mexico?
28 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Mexico work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Oswego (12%, 14 mi), Mexico (12%, 2 mi), Syracuse (11%, 30 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Mexico walkable?
Mexico is more walkable than 52% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 6.4 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Mexico without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Mexico, from the people who make the trip.
More of Mexico
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.