Photo: Daniel Case · CC BY-SA 3.0Most of Pleasant Valley commutes out: there are 0.5 jobs for every working resident
Pleasant Valley has 2,164 jobs, against 4,620 working residents. The two grades for Pleasant Valley are B+ for jobs and income and B− for walkability. Household incomes here are higher than in 78% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Pleasant Valley: the figures worth knowing
The four measures behind Pleasant Valley’s grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Pleasant Valley is better than 72% of U.S. towns, #228 of 758 in New York. Household income is its strongest input ($101,731, U.S. $80,734); job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 53% of U.S. towns). 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, Pleasant Valley could be anywhere from B− to A.
Who leaves Pleasant Valley for work, and who comes in
On a workday 4,352 residents head out to work, 268 work right here, and 1,896 people come in from elsewhere.
About 7,400 people are in Pleasant Valley on a workday afternoon, 25% 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 2024, primary jobs.
15% of working residents work in Poughkeepsie
Where Pleasant Valley clocks in
15% of workers
13% 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.
Pleasant Valley makes things: 28% of its jobs are in goods
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Pleasant Valley, 2014 → 2024: 1,970 → 2,164. 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 Pleasant Valley’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Time on the road from Pleasant Valley: about 33 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Pleasant Valley workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,163 commuters (the 15% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Pleasant Valley
About 25% 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.
In Pleasant Valley, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Pleasant Valley is more walkable than 46% of U.S. towns, #536 of 758 in New York. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 2.9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 32.9% across New York, on an EPA index of 6.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 4,899 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% 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 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). 6.2% of Pleasant Valley households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of Pleasant Valley’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Pleasant Valley ranks: 1,032nd of 2,761 U.S. towns of 6,900 to 13,300
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 96 | East Rockaway NY | 10,096 | $125K | 2.6% | 3.2% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 99 | North Castle NY | 12,360 | $208K | 3.8% | 3.1% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 130 | Hastings-on-Hudson NY | 8,440 | $194K | 2.3% | 4.1% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,030 | Nyack NY | 7,511 | $117K | 7.3% | 8.8% | 7% | B+ |
| 1,031 | Elon NC | 11,366 | $85K | 20.0% | 5.1% | 6% | B+ |
| 1,032 | Pleasant Valley NY | 9,822 | $102K | 6.5% | 3.8% | 6% | B+ |
| 1,033 | Kasson MN | 7,350 | $93K | 5.5% | 3.9% | 8% | B+ |
| 1,034 | Liberty Township IN | 11,151 | $97K | 9.2% | 3.8% | 5% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,761 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 6% | 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 Pleasant Valley, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
Work next door: 26% of Pleasant Valley’s workers
The biggest share goes to Poughkeepsie (15%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Pleasant Valley workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pleasant Valley | – | B+ | B− | 33 min | $101,731 |
| LaGrange | 5% | B+ | B | 33 min | $121,586 |
| Clinton | under 2% | A− | B+ | 36 min | $125,685 |
| Poughkeepsie | 15% | B+ | A | 27 min | $97,724 |
| Washington | 2% | B+ | A− | 30 min | $102,303 |
| Hyde Park | 4% | B− | B+ | 29 min | $87,094 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Pleasant Valley’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 Pleasant Valley: questions
What is the median household income in Pleasant Valley?
$101,731 (±$15,975) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Pleasant Valley?
6.5%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Pleasant Valley?
33 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Pleasant Valley work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Poughkeepsie (15%, 9 mi), New York City (13%, 77 mi), Poughkeepsie (7%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Pleasant Valley walkable?
Pleasant Valley is more walkable than 46% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 6.0 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Pleasant Valley without a car?
3% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Pleasant Valley, from the people who make the trip.
More of Pleasant Valley
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.