Dayton's Corners School · Photo: Matthew D. Wilson (LtPowers) · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Penfield have higher incomes than those in 88% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 5.3% of residents, against 14.0% across New York. For jobs and income Penfield is better than 87% of U.S. towns (A); for walkability it is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns (B+). At home: 23% of workers have no commute at all (New York 15%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Penfield at work: what stands out
Commutes from Penfield 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 ↓
Penfield and Rochester trade workers both ways
Rochester is the top workplace for Penfield residents (28%) and also where the most people who work in Penfield come from (14% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Most Penfield residents work close to home
65% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. How far ↓
A lot of Penfield works from home
23% of Penfield workers work from home, against 15% across New York. Time on the road ↓
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 Penfield gets the Jobs & income grade it does
Household income is its strongest input ($119,154, U.S. $80,734); unemployment ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (4.0%, U.S. 5.2%). 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, Penfield could be anywhere from A− to A.
The daily trip from Penfield: about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Penfield workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 14,704 commuters (the 23% 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.
28% of working residents work in Rochester
Where Penfield clocks in
28% of workers
8% 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 distance from Penfield 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.
Who commutes out of Penfield, and who commutes in
On a workday 15,751 residents head out to work, 1,571 work right here, and 10,636 people come in from elsewhere.
About 34,000 people are in Penfield on a workday afternoon, 13% fewer than live here.
0.70 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 kinds of work in Penfield
12,207 jobs are based in Penfield.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Penfield, 2013 → 2023: 12,051 → 12,207. 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 Penfield’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Most trips from Penfield start in a car
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.2% 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 19,151 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 32% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 5% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.9 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 68% 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). 6.1% of Penfield households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Penfield’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 1,135 U.S. towns of 27,000 to 53,000, Penfield comes 253rd on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 2 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 3 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 22 | Eastchester NY | 34,015 | $156K | 4.8% | 2.6% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 34 | Clifton Park NY | 37,775 | $133K | 2.3% | 2.0% | 13% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 50 | Valley Stream NY | 40,379 | $133K | 5.5% | 2.8% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 251 | Miami Township OH | 45,748 | $116K | 4.0% | 4.3% | 9% | A |
| 252 | Campbell CA | 42,490 | $145K | 5.6% | 5.0% | 6% | A |
| 253 | Penfield NY | 39,139 | $119K | 5.3% | 4.0% | 9% | A |
| 254 | Rutland Township IL | 29,843 | $106K | 6.1% | 3.4% | 2% | A |
| 255 | Lafayette CO | 30,116 | $119K | 5.6% | 3.8% | 10% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,135 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Penfield, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
20% of Penfield works in a bordering town
The biggest share goes to Perinton (6%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Penfield workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Penfield | – | A | B+ | 20 min | $119,154 |
| Brighton | 5% | B+ | A | 17 min | $85,467 |
| Irondequoit | 3% | B+ | A− | 20 min | $79,162 |
| Perinton | 6% | A | B | 21 min | $112,093 |
| Webster | 6% | A | B− | 21 min | $94,313 |
| Walworth | under 3% | A | D | 24 min | $94,286 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Penfield’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 Penfield: questions
What is the median household income in Penfield?
$119,154 (±$5,186) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Penfield?
5.3%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Penfield?
20 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 23% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Penfield work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Rochester (28%, 9 mi), Henrietta (8%, 12 mi), Webster (6%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Penfield walkable?
Penfield is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.6 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Penfield without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 5% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Penfield, from the people who make the trip.
More of Penfield
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.