Photo: Jared Kofsky/Placenj.com · CC BY-SA 4.0Phelps has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.4 for each
Phelps has 345 jobs; 819 of its residents have a job. The two grades for Phelps are C for jobs and income and B for walkability. Only 3% stay in Phelps for work; outside it, Manchester is the main destination (10%, 7 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The short version on getting to work from Phelps
Commutes from Phelps 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 ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Phelps
62% of Phelps residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 43% of the jobs based in Phelps pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 97% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
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; with 819 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The four measures behind Phelps’ grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Phelps is better than 29% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Phelps’ grade up (ahead of 55% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (7.6%, U.S. 5.2%).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Phelps could be anywhere from D to A.
The trip to work from Phelps: 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 Phelps workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 804 commuters (the 13% 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.
Jobs in Phelps: what the 345 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Phelps, 2013 → 2023: 340 → 345. 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 Phelps’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Phelps by day and by night
On a workday 793 residents head out to work, 26 work right here, and 319 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,400 people are in Phelps on a workday afternoon, 26% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Where Phelps goes to work
Where Phelps clocks in
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.
Miles to work from Phelps
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.
Driving is how Phelps gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Phelps is more walkable than 65% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 32.9% across New York, on an EPA index of 6.9.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 926 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 7.1% of Phelps households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Phelps’ commuters take a bus or train.
How Phelps ranks: 3,494th of 5,656 U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 4 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | Atlantic Beach NY | 1,723 | $166K | 1.8% | 3.1% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,492 | Nashville MI | 1,605 | $56K | 9.7% | 1.7% | 3% | C |
| 3,493 | Seymour MO | 1,960 | $52K | 31.4% | 1.7% | 15% | C |
| 3,494 | Phelps NY | 1,850 | $71K | 14.7% | 7.6% | 3% | C |
| 3,495 | Neillsville WI | 2,367 | $60K | 15.1% | 3.1% | 40% | C |
| 3,496 | Mount Carroll Township IL | 1,897 | $54K | 13.3% | 2.9% | 12% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 5,656 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | 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 Phelps, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
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 Phelps: questions
What is the median household income in Phelps?
$71,083 (±$11,653) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Phelps?
14.7%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Phelps?
20 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Phelps work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Manchester (10%, 7 mi), Phelps (8%, 2 mi), Rochester (8%, 32 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Phelps walkable?
Phelps is more walkable than 65% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 6.9 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Phelps without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Phelps, from the people who make the trip.
More of Phelps
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.