Enlarged Double Lock No. 33 Old Erie Canal · Photo: Jud McCranie · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Minden have lower incomes than those in 93% of U.S. towns
6% of workers have no commute at all (New York 15%). Below the poverty line: 18.0% of residents, next to 14.0% for New York as a whole. Jobs and income earn Minden C; getting around on foot earns it B−.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Minden, in brief
How Minden earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Minden is better than 28% of U.S. towns, #599 of 758 in New York. Unemployment holds Minden’s grade up (1.1%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($44,195, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Minden could be anywhere from C− to C+.
Commuting from Minden: about 28 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Minden workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,764 commuters (the 5% 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 a workday changes Minden
On a workday 1,242 residents head out to work, 145 work right here, and 380 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,400 people are in Minden on a workday afternoon, 20% fewer than live here.
0.38 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 2023, primary jobs.
The towns that employ Minden’s residents
Where Minden clocks in
6% of workers
6% 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.
What work there is in Minden: 525 jobs
525 jobs are based in Minden.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Minden, 2013 → 2023: 536 → 525. 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 Minden’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute from Minden, by distance
About 23% 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 Minden, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Minden is more walkable than 47% of U.S. towns, #530 of 758 in New York. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 32.9% across New York, on an EPA index of 5.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,866 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). 18.2% of Minden households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Minden’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Minden is 2,943rd among 3,962 U.S. towns of 3,000 to 5,700
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 7 | Lloyd Harbor NY | 3,587 | $250K | 2.1% | 0.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 19 | North Hills NY | 5,481 | $173K | 3.0% | 1.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 55 | Great Neck Estates NY | 3,139 | $238K | 5.7% | 1.7% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,941 | Malone NY | 5,315 | $61K | 22.2% | 2.3% | 34% | C |
| 2,942 | White Township MN | 3,088 | $55K | 14.0% | 2.3% | 13% | C |
| 2,943 | Minden NY | 4,226 | $44K | 18.0% | 1.1% | 10% | C |
| 2,944 | Bayou Vista LA | 3,842 | $41K | 24.6% | 2.0% | 10% | C |
| 2,945 | Capitol View SC | 4,374 | $47K | 10.6% | 13.1% | 1% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 3,962 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Minden, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
Next door is work for 10% of Minden
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Minden workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minden | – | C | B− | 28 min | $44,195 |
| St. Johnsville | under 4% | D | B+ | 22 min | $54,837 |
| Palatine | 4% | C+ | C− | 25 min | $69,722 |
| Fort Plain | under 4% | C− | B+ | 25 min | $34,738 |
| Nelliston | under 4% | — | — | 25 min | — |
| Canajoharie | 6% | B | B− | 25 min | $78,281 |
| Danube | under 4% | — | — | 28 min | — |
| Stark | under 4% | — | — | 29 min | — |
| Cherry Valley | under 4% | B− | B | 23 min | $92,639 |
Same-state neighbors only. Nelliston, Danube and Stark: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Canajoharie. Darker towns draw more of Minden’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 Minden: questions
What is the median household income in Minden?
$44,195 (±$9,564) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Minden?
18.0%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Minden?
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 Minden work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Canajoharie (6%, 6 mi), Albany (6%, 49 mi), Palatine (4%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Minden walkable?
Minden is more walkable than 47% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 5.2 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Minden without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 18% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Minden, from the people who make the trip.
More of Minden
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.