Households in Owego earn less than those in 74% of U.S. towns
About one in five work in Owego; the top destination outside it is Owego (28%, 4 miles). 29.1% of residents live below the poverty line, next to 14.0% for New York as a whole. For jobs and income Owego is better than 30% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns (A).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Owego and work: the main findings
Commutes from Owego are quick
The average trip to work takes 20 minutes, against 33 across New York. That’s about 100 hours a year less on the road than the typical New York worker. Time on the road ↓
Owego and Owego trade workers both ways
Owego is the top workplace for Owego residents (28%) and also where the most people who work in Owego come from (30% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Owego is where the jobs are
Owego has 2,394 jobs, 1.6 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
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.
Owego’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
Unemployment holds Owego’s grade up (2.9%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Owego could be anywhere from D to B−.
How long Owego spends getting to work: about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Owego workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,416 commuters (the 10% 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.
Where Owego’s workforce comes from
Where Owego clocks in
28% of workers
8% of workers
7% 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.
How many people are in Owego by day
On a workday 1,227 residents head out to work, 253 work right here, and 2,141 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,200 people are in Owego on a workday afternoon, 21% more than live here.
1.6 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
What the 2,394 jobs in Owego are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Owego, 2013 → 2023: 1,796 → 2,394. 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 Owego’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The distance from Owego to work
About 22% 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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Owego
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 5.4% 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 1,567 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all 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). 19.7% of Owego households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Owego’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 4,039 U.S. towns of 3,000 to 5,800, Owego comes 2,914th 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,912 | Fussels Corner FL | 5,682 | $56K | 16.8% | 5.1% | <1% | C |
| 2,913 | Emmetsburg IA | 3,684 | $56K | 15.2% | 2.4% | 43% | C |
| 2,914 | Owego NY | 4,268 | $60K | 29.1% | 2.9% | 17% | C |
| 2,915 | Clearlake Riviera CA | 4,122 | $89K | 6.1% | 15.3% | 3% | C |
| 2,916 | Ingalls Park IL | 3,015 | $58K | 21.9% | 6.9% | 1% | 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 Owego, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
Work in the towns next to Owego
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Owego’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 Owego: questions
What is the median household income in Owego?
$60,139 (±$17,435) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Owego?
29.1%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Owego?
20 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Owego work?
17% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Owego (28%, 4 mi), Union (8%, 12 mi), Binghamton (7%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Owego walkable?
Owego is more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 13.0 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Owego without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 20% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Owego, from the people who make the trip.
More of Owego
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.