Photo: Daniel Case · CC BY-SA 4.0Monroe has higher household incomes than 83% of U.S. towns
Only 5% stay in Monroe for work; outside it, New York City is the main destination (25%, 47 miles). The poverty rate is 9.0%, where New York as a whole has 14.0%. Jobs and income earn Monroe A−; getting around on foot earns it A−.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Monroe
Inside Monroe’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Monroe is better than 79% of U.S. towns, #173 of 758 in New York. Household income is its strongest input ($109,851, U.S. $80,734); the poverty rate ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns. It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Monroe could be anywhere from B to A.
How far Monroe goes to work
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.
The daily flow of workers through Monroe
On a workday 3,550 residents head out to work, 191 work right here, and 2,533 people come in from elsewhere.
About 8,400 people are in Monroe on a workday afternoon, 11% fewer than live here.
0.73 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 places Monroe commutes to
Where Monroe clocks in
25% of workers
6% 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 the 2,724 jobs in Monroe are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Monroe, 2013 → 2023: 2,569 → 2,724. 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 Monroe’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Monroe, about 32 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Monroe workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,302 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.
Monroe 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, Monroe is more walkable than 81% of U.S. towns, #276 of 758 in New York. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 3.5% 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 4,689 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 29% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 18% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 4.7% of Monroe households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of Monroe’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 2,831 U.S. towns of 6,600 to 12,800, Monroe comes 833rd 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+ |
| 4 | Lawrence NY | 6,847 | $170K | 3.5% | 3.9% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 104 | East Rockaway NY | 10,096 | $125K | 2.6% | 3.2% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 107 | North Castle NY | 12,360 | $208K | 3.8% | 3.1% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 831 | Ladera Heights CA | 7,334 | $167K | 10.9% | 5.1% | 2% | A− |
| 832 | Woodburn VA | 9,503 | $134K | 10.8% | 4.7% | 6% | A− |
| 833 | Monroe NY | 9,462 | $110K | 9.0% | 3.0% | 5% | A− |
| 834 | Tyngsborough MA | 12,721 | $129K | 6.6% | 5.5% | 6% | A− |
| 835 | Montecito CA | 9,031 | $231K | 8.3% | 4.0% | 9% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,831 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Monroe, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
Monroe and its neighbors
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Monroe workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monroe | – | A− | A− | 32 min | $109,851 |
| Walton Park | under 2% | — | — | 45 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Walton Park: a Census-designated place inside a larger town, graded as part of it. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Monroe’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 Monroe: questions
What is the median household income in Monroe?
$109,851 (±$7,320) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Monroe?
9.0%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Monroe?
32 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 Monroe work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are New York City (25%, 47 mi), Monroe (8%, 1 mi), Woodbury (6%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Monroe walkable?
Monroe is more walkable than 81% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 10.3 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Monroe without a car?
3% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 18% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Monroe, from the people who make the trip.
More of Monroe
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.