First Presbyterian Church · Photo: Jerrye & Roy Klotz, MD · CC BY-SA 4.0Jobs and the daily commute in Preble
Only 4% stay in Preble for work; outside it, Cortland is the main destination (15%, 10 miles). Preble grades B for jobs and income and D for walkability. A typical one-way commute lasts 27 minutes; New York averages 33, the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Preble apart on work
Preble and Cortland trade workers both ways
Cortland is the top workplace for Preble residents (15%) and also where the most people who work in Preble come from (12% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Preble makes and builds things
50% of the jobs based in Preble are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Preble residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 17%. The jobs ↓
The jobs in Preble pay better than its residents’ jobs
75% of the jobs based in Preble pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), against 57% of the jobs Preble residents hold. 94% of the jobs here are held by people who live outside Preble. 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 500 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Jobs & income in Preble: the grade in detail
On income, poverty and job access, Preble is better than 64% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Preble’s grade up (5.4%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 41% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (1.1%) is left out: Preble’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Preble could be anywhere from C+ to A−.
Where the trip to work from Preble ends
Where Preble clocks in
15% of workers
9% 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.
50% of the jobs in Preble make or build things
318 jobs are based in Preble.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Preble, 2013 → 2023: 148 → 318. 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 Preble’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Preble by day and by night
On a workday 481 residents head out to work, 19 work right here, and 299 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,100 people are in Preble on a workday afternoon, 14% 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 2023, primary jobs.
Each way, about 27 minutes from Preble
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Preble workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 453 commuters (the 17% 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 far it is to work from Preble
About 20% 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 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
For most of Preble, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Preble is more walkable than 11% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 1.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 32.9% across New York, on an EPA index of 3.5.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 544 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). 5.0% of Preble households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Preble’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Preble is 1,165th of 5,400 U.S. towns of 900 to 1,800
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 4 | Saddle Rock NY | 1,008 | $176K | 0.8% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,163 | Sylvan Springs AL | 1,600 | $82K | 10.7% | 3.5% | 2% | B |
| 1,164 | Bennington NH | 1,518 | $84K | 4.0% | 5.8% | 4% | B |
| 1,165 | Preble NY | 1,305 | $82K | 5.4% | 1.1% | 4% | B |
| 1,166 | Jefferson Township OH | 1,562 | $81K | 5.6% | 1.3% | 1% | B |
| 1,167 | Webster Township IN | 1,743 | $93K | 7.3% | 0.2% | 1% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 5,400 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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 Preble, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
13% of Preble works in a bordering town
The biggest share goes to Homer (7%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Preble’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 Preble: questions
What is the median household income in Preble?
$82,083 (±$19,813) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Preble?
5.4%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Preble?
27 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 17% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Preble work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Cortland (15%, 10 mi), Cortlandville (9%, 10 mi), Homer (7%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Preble walkable?
Preble is more walkable than 11% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 3.5 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Preble without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Preble, from the people who make the trip.
More of Preble
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.