Photo: Andre Carrotflower · CC BY-SA 4.0Most of Porter commutes out: there are 0.2 jobs for every working resident
For 8% of workers, the job is at home, where New York as a whole has 15%. Porter has 608 jobs for 2,902 working residents. Jobs and income earn Porter B+; getting around on foot earns it C+.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Porter apart
The better-paid jobs are outside Porter
63% of Porter residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 37% of the jobs based in Porter pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 93% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Porter is a place people come home to
There are 608 jobs based in Porter, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Porter has about 4,200 people in it, 36% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Porter are quick
The average trip to work takes 28 minutes, against 33 across New York. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical New York worker. 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.
The figures behind Porter’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Porter is better than 67% of U.S. towns, #279 of 758 in New York. Unemployment is its strongest input (2.9%, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 52% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Porter could be anywhere from B− to A−.
What Porter’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Porter, 2013 → 2023: 603 → 608. 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 Porter’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who leaves Porter for work, and who comes in
On a workday 2,699 residents head out to work, 203 work right here, and 405 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,200 people are in Porter on a workday afternoon, 36% 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.
Each way, about 28 minutes from Porter
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Porter workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,701 commuters (the 9% 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.
14% of working residents work in Lewiston
Where Porter clocks in
11% of workers
11% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Porter
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.
Porter is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Porter is more walkable than 38% of U.S. towns, #594 of 758 in New York. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 2.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 32.9% across New York, on an EPA index of 5.5.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,952 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). 3.0% of Porter households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Porter’s commuters take a bus or train.
Porter next to U.S. towns of 4,500 to 8,700: 1,278th of 3,306 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Norwood NJ | 5,817 | $178K | 2.8% | 0.9% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 7 | Lawrence NY | 6,847 | $170K | 3.5% | 3.9% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | Irvington NY | 6,533 | $173K | 1.6% | 2.1% | 6% | A+ |
| 15 | Kings Point NY | 5,710 | $211K | 0.9% | 2.4% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,276 | Xenia Township OH | 7,320 | $95K | 4.8% | 6.8% | 5% | B+ |
| 1,277 | Lancaster Township IN | 6,234 | $77K | 8.7% | 1.7% | 16% | B+ |
| 1,278 | Porter NY | 6,448 | $78K | 7.0% | 2.9% | 7% | B+ |
| 1,279 | Beaver Township OH | 6,601 | $97K | 8.3% | 4.7% | 10% | B+ |
| 1,280 | Warren ME | 5,099 | $75K | 6.0% | 0.6% | 14% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,306 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Porter, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
The towns next door employ 14% of Porter
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Porter workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Porter | – | B+ | C+ | 28 min | $77,931 |
| Lewiston | 14% | B | B+ | 21 min | $78,400 |
| Wilson | under 3% | B | C+ | 25 min | $88,929 |
| Youngstown | under 3% | B+ | B− | 31 min | $81,369 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Lewiston. Darker towns draw more of Porter’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 Porter: questions
What is the median household income in Porter?
$77,931 (±$8,286) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Porter?
7.0%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Porter?
28 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 Porter work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lewiston (14%, 5 mi), Niagara Falls (11%, 12 mi), Buffalo (11%, 26 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Porter walkable?
Porter is more walkable than 38% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 5.5 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Porter without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Porter, from the people who make the trip.
More of Porter
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.