Ashokan-Turnwood Covered Bridge · Photo: JERRYE AND ROY KLOTZ MD · CC BY-SA 3.0At 17.1%, unemployment in Olive is among the highest of any U.S. town
Jobs and income earn Olive C+; getting around on foot earns it B−. Household incomes here are higher than in 86% of U.S. towns. For 31% of workers, the job is at home, next to 15% for New York as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Olive apart
A lot of Olive works from home
31% of Olive workers work from home, against 15% across New York. Time on the road ↓
A big share show a job far from home
31% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
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.
Why Olive gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Olive is better than 36% of U.S. towns, #529 of 758 in New York. Household income holds Olive’s grade up ($114,018, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down. It also does well on the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Olive could be anywhere from C− to B−.
How long Olive spends getting to work: about 30 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Olive workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,342 commuters (the 31% 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 it is to work from Olive
About 31% 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.
In and out of Olive on a workday
On a workday 1,292 residents head out to work, 234 work right here, and 763 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,700 people are in Olive on a workday afternoon, 12% fewer than live here.
0.65 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.
14% of working residents work in Kingston
Where Olive clocks in
14% of workers
12% 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 997 jobs in Olive are
997 jobs are based in Olive.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Olive, 2013 → 2023: 1,025 → 997. 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 Olive’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Driving is how Olive gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Olive is more walkable than 50% of U.S. towns, #508 of 758 in New York. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 5.2% 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 1,948 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 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). 3.1% of Olive households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 5% of Olive’s commuters take a bus or train.
Olive next to U.S. towns of 3,000 to 5,800: 2,686th of 4,039 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 17 | Kings Point NY | 5,710 | $211K | 0.9% | 2.4% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 20 | North Hills NY | 5,481 | $173K | 3.0% | 1.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,684 | Spencer NC | 3,450 | $65K | 11.2% | 7.1% | 3% | C+ |
| 2,685 | Broadway VA | 4,463 | $65K | 13.3% | 4.1% | 6% | C+ |
| 2,686 | Olive NY | 4,263 | $114K | 8.0% | 17.1% | 15% | C+ |
| 2,687 | Lake Tansi TN | 4,437 | $58K | 13.9% | 2.0% | 4% | C+ |
| 2,688 | Jackson MN | 3,305 | $70K | 11.8% | 4.0% | 44% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,039 | 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 Olive, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
Olive and its neighbors: 10% work next door
The biggest share goes to Woodstock (6%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Olive workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Olive | – | C+ | B− | 30 min | $114,018 |
| Shandaken | 4% | C− | B− | 31 min | $66,031 |
| Woodstock | 6% | C+ | B+ | 27 min | $92,118 |
| Marbletown | under 2% | B− | B | 35 min | $114,330 |
| Hurley | under 2% | B+ | B− | 23 min | $101,099 |
| Denning | under 2% | — | — | 36 min | — |
| Rochester | under 2% | C+ | B | 36 min | $86,691 |
Same-state neighbors only. Denning: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Olive’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 Olive: questions
What is the median household income in Olive?
$114,018 (±$28,634) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Olive?
8.0%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Olive?
30 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 31% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Olive work?
15% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Kingston (14%, 14 mi), New York City (12%, 90 mi), Woodstock (6%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Olive walkable?
Olive is more walkable than 50% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 5.1 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Olive without a car?
5% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Olive, from the people who make the trip.
More of Olive
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.