Middlefield Hamlet Historic District · Photo: Doug Kerr from Upstate New York · CC BY-SA 2.0With 0.4 jobs for every working resident, most of Middlefield works elsewhere
Middlefield has 286 jobs, and 776 of its residents work somewhere. For jobs and income Middlefield is better than 59% of U.S. towns (B); for walkability it is more walkable than 54% of U.S. towns (B−). Measured by household income, Middlefield is ahead of 87% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Middlefield, in a few figures
A lot of Middlefield works one town over
38% of working residents work in a town that borders Middlefield: Otsego (32%), Hartwick (3%) and Cherry Valley (3%). Next door ↓
Commutes from Middlefield are quick
The average trip to work takes 19 minutes, against 33 across New York. That’s about 107 hours a year less on the road than the typical New York worker. Time on the road ↓
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; with 776 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Middlefield
Household income holds Middlefield’s grade up ($118,333, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 11% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate.
Unemployment (5.9%) is left out: Middlefield’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Middlefield could be anywhere from C+ to B+.
Getting to work from Middlefield takes about 19 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Middlefield workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 734 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.
Middlefield on a workday afternoon
On a workday 739 residents head out to work, 37 work right here, and 249 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,400 people are in Middlefield on a workday afternoon, 26% 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.
32% of working residents work in Otsego
Where Middlefield clocks in
7% of workers
3% 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.
Jobs in Middlefield: what the 286 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Middlefield, 2013 → 2023: 298 → 286. 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 Middlefield’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Half of Middlefield commutes less than 18 miles
About 28% 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.
Most of Middlefield commutes by car
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 6.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 32.9% across New York, on an EPA index of 5.1.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 801 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). 1.7% of Middlefield households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Middlefield’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,500, Middlefield ranks 1,709th of 5,656 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 4 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | Atlantic Beach NY | 1,723 | $166K | 1.8% | 3.1% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,707 | Harrison Township IN | 1,578 | $75K | 12.0% | 0.0% | 1% | B |
| 1,708 | Township 11 KS | 1,969 | $62K | 2.8% | 1.2% | 36% | B |
| 1,709 | Middlefield NY | 1,870 | $118K | 6.8% | 5.9% | 5% | B |
| 1,710 | Pleasant Township PA | 2,164 | $76K | 6.8% | 2.1% | 2% | B |
| 1,711 | Platteville WI | 1,554 | $82K | 6.4% | 0.0% | 1% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 5,656 | 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 Middlefield, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
Bordering towns draw 38% of Middlefield’s workers
The biggest share goes to Otsego (32%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Middlefield workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Middlefield | – | B | B− | 19 min | $118,333 |
| Otsego | 32% | C+ | A− | 26 min | $72,891 |
| Hartwick | 3% | C | B | 18 min | $81,196 |
| Hartwick Seminary | under 2% | — | — | 10 min | — |
| Milford | under 2% | B | C+ | 23 min | $73,333 |
| Roseboom | under 2% | — | — | 32 min | — |
| Westford | under 2% | — | — | 28 min | — |
| Cherry Valley | 3% | B− | B | 23 min | $92,639 |
| Springfield | under 2% | D | C | 30 min | $62,965 |
Same-state neighbors only. Hartwick Seminary: a Census-designated place inside a larger town, graded as part of it. Roseboom and Westford: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Middlefield’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 Middlefield: questions
What is the median household income in Middlefield?
$118,333 (±$25,015) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Middlefield?
6.8%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Middlefield?
19 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 Middlefield work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Otsego (32%, 7 mi), New York City (7%, 148 mi), Cherry Valley (3%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Middlefield walkable?
Middlefield is more walkable than 54% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 5.1 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Middlefield without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Middlefield, from the people who make the trip.
More of Middlefield
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.