Photo: Doug Kerr from Albany, NY, United States · CC BY-SA 2.0Household incomes in Perry trail those of 70% of U.S. towns
Perry grades C+ for jobs and income and A− for walkability. 9.7% of residents are in poverty, against 14.0% across New York. Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 79.0 in New York City.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Perry: the gist
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Perry
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Perry is better than 38% of U.S. towns, #517 of 758 in New York. Unemployment holds Perry’s grade up (3.5%, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 23% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Perry could be anywhere from D to B+.
The daily trip from Perry: about 19 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Perry workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,987 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.
How many people are in Perry by day
On a workday 1,700 residents head out to work, 366 work right here, and 959 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,000 people are in Perry on a workday afternoon, 16% fewer than live here.
0.64 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 2024, primary jobs.
8% of working residents work in Warsaw
Where Perry clocks in
8% 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.
Making and building: 34% of jobs based in Perry
1,325 jobs are based in Perry.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Perry, 2014 → 2024: 1,469 → 1,325. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Perry’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Perry goes to work
About 15% 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 2024.
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: Perry
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Perry is more walkable than 81% of U.S. towns, #267 of 758 in New York. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 21.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 32.9% across New York, on an EPA index of 7.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,155 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 14% 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 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 42% 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). 13.5% of Perry households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Perry’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 3,300 to 6,400, Perry ranks 2,525th of 3,867 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 10 | Lloyd Harbor NY | 3,587 | $250K | 2.1% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 20 | Kings Point NY | 5,710 | $211K | 0.9% | 2.4% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | North Hills NY | 5,481 | $173K | 3.0% | 1.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,523 | Whiting IN | 4,479 | $72K | 17.1% | 11.3% | 14% | C+ |
| 2,524 | Wade Township IL | 4,282 | $64K | 11.4% | 2.8% | 20% | C+ |
| 2,525 | Perry NY | 4,769 | $63K | 9.7% | 3.5% | 18% | C+ |
| 2,526 | Woodson Terrace MO | 3,902 | $47K | 26.9% | 3.9% | 1% | C+ |
| 2,527 | Jefferson Township OH | 5,982 | $73K | 12.9% | 12.2% | 2% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,867 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 19% | 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 Perry, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
Next door is work for 13% of Perry
The biggest share goes to Warsaw (8%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Perry’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 2024, 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 Perry: questions
What is the median household income in Perry?
$62,615 (±$5,046) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Perry?
9.7%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Perry?
19 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 Perry work?
18% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Warsaw (8%, 6 mi), Rochester (6%, 35 mi), Castile (5%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Perry walkable?
Perry is more walkable than 81% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.0 out of 20, and 21% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Perry without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 14% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Perry, from the people who make the trip.
More of Perry
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.