Photo: Joegrimes at English Wikipedia · Public domainOnondaga has higher household incomes than 80% of U.S. towns
Only 7% stay in Onondaga for work; outside it, Syracuse is the main destination (34%, 6 miles). The poverty rate is 3.5%, where New York as a whole has 14.0%. For jobs and income Onondaga is better than 82% of U.S. towns (A−); for walkability it is more walkable than 61% of U.S. towns (B).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Onondaga: the gist
Commutes from Onondaga are quick
The average trip to work takes 21 minutes, against 33 across New York. That’s about 92 hours a year less on the road than the typical New York worker. Time on the road ↓
A lot of Onondaga works one town over
38% of working residents work in a town that borders Onondaga: Syracuse (34%) and Camillus (4%). Next door ↓
Onondaga has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Onondaga went from 3,341 in 2013 to 6,026 in 2023, +80%. The jobs ↓
Most Onondaga residents work close to home
64% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
How Onondaga earns its Jobs & income grade
The poverty rate holds Onondaga’s grade up; unemployment pulls it down (4.5%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Onondaga could be anywhere from B+ to A.
Commuting from Onondaga: about 21 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Onondaga workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 9,750 commuters (the 11% 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.
Mostly health care, schools and offices in Onondaga
6,026 jobs are based in Onondaga.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Onondaga, 2013 → 2023: 3,341 → 6,026. 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 Onondaga’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Onondaga goes to work
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.
How many people are in Onondaga by day
On a workday 9,586 residents head out to work, 698 work right here, and 5,328 people come in from elsewhere.
About 18,000 people are in Onondaga on a workday afternoon, 19% fewer than live here.
0.59 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 Onondaga’s residents
Where Onondaga clocks in
34% 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.
The commute in Onondaga is mostly behind the wheel
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 10,968 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 49% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 14% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 9.9 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 93% 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). 5.3% of Onondaga households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Onondaga’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 1,658 U.S. towns of 16,000 to 30,000, Onondaga comes 511th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Lake Forest IL | 19,731 | $235K | 3.5% | 1.8% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | Floral Park NY | 16,105 | $150K | 3.0% | 3.1% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 60 | Garden City NY | 23,043 | $244K | 3.0% | 3.9% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 66 | Victor NY | 16,422 | $116K | 2.8% | 1.6% | 16% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 509 | Bedford NY | 16,933 | $196K | 8.9% | 4.4% | 10% | A− |
| 510 | Pleasant Prairie WI | 21,798 | $104K | 7.1% | 3.6% | 14% | A− |
| 511 | Onondaga NY | 22,431 | $104K | 3.5% | 4.5% | 7% | A− |
| 512 | Gardendale AL | 16,425 | $82K | 4.3% | 3.4% | 5% | A− |
| 513 | Branford CT | 28,724 | $105K | 5.9% | 4.2% | 15% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,658 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Onondaga, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
Next door is work for 38% of Onondaga
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Onondaga workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Onondaga | – | A− | B | 21 min | $104,448 |
| Syracuse | 34% | C− | A+ | 18 min | $47,819 |
| Marcellus | under 2% | B | B | 28 min | $94,112 |
| LaFayette | under 2% | A− | D | 22 min | $113,750 |
| Camillus | 4% | A− | B | 21 min | $85,915 |
| Otisco | under 2% | B+ | C+ | 27 min | $83,950 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Syracuse. Darker towns draw more of Onondaga’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 Onondaga: questions
What is the median household income in Onondaga?
$104,448 (±$5,496) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Onondaga?
3.5%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Onondaga?
21 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Onondaga work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Syracuse (34%, 6 mi), DeWitt (10%, 9 mi), Camillus (4%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Onondaga walkable?
Onondaga is more walkable than 61% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.8 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Onondaga without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 14% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Onondaga, from the people who make the trip.
More of Onondaga
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.