Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Household incomes in Riverhead are higher than in 72% of U.S. towns
8.6% of residents live below the poverty line, against 14.0% across New York. Jobs and income earn Riverhead B; getting around on foot earns it B+. About one in five work in Riverhead itself; outside it, New York City draws the most (15%, 68 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Riverhead apart
Riverhead’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Riverhead is New York City, 68 miles away as the crow flies. 15% of working residents (2,394) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Riverhead trades workers with the towns around it
Riverhead has about as many jobs (16,256) as working residents (15,467), but they are mostly different people: 12,156 residents leave for work each day while 12,945 people come in. Only 20% of the jobs in Riverhead are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
A lot of Riverhead works one town over
31% of working residents work in a town that borders Riverhead: Brookhaven (15%), Southampton (11%) and Southold (5%). Next door ↓
Commutes from Riverhead 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.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Riverhead
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Riverhead is better than 63% of U.S. towns, #314 of 758 in New York. Household income holds Riverhead’s grade up ($94,249, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down (5.2%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Riverhead could be anywhere from B− to A−.
How far Riverhead goes to work
About 24% 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.
The workday shuffle in and out of Riverhead
On a workday 12,156 residents head out to work, 3,311 work right here, and 12,945 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.05 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
The trip to work from Riverhead: about 28 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Riverhead workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 14,043 commuters (the 10% 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.
The towns that employ Riverhead’s residents
Where Riverhead clocks in
15% of workers
15% 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.
The 16,256 jobs based in Riverhead
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Riverhead, 2013 → 2023: 15,904 → 16,256. 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 Riverhead’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In Riverhead, the car does most of the work
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 15,612 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 7% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 4% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 41% 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). 6.7% of Riverhead households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Riverhead’s commuters take a bus or train.
Riverhead next to U.S. towns of 25,000 to 49,000: 706th of 1,239 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 2 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | Eastchester NY | 34,015 | $156K | 4.8% | 2.6% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 42 | Clifton Park NY | 37,775 | $133K | 2.3% | 2.0% | 13% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 60 | Valley Stream NY | 40,379 | $133K | 5.5% | 2.8% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 704 | Wilsonville OR | 27,833 | $96K | 8.8% | 6.6% | 15% | B |
| 705 | Winfield Township IL | 46,284 | $103K | 10.5% | 7.9% | 9% | B |
| 706 | Riverhead NY | 36,394 | $94K | 8.6% | 5.2% | 21% | B |
| 707 | Kendall West FL | 35,912 | $70K | 11.9% | 3.4% | 2% | B |
| 708 | Collinsville Township IL | 35,276 | $78K | 9.8% | 4.7% | 13% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,239 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Riverhead, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
31% of Riverhead works in a bordering town
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Riverhead workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Riverhead | – | B | B+ | 28 min | $94,249 |
| Brookhaven | 15% | A− | A− | 32 min | $120,110 |
| Manorville | under 3% | — | — | 32 min | — |
| East Shoreham | under 3% | — | — | 33 min | — |
| Southampton | 11% | B+ | A− | 30 min | $128,594 |
| Riverside | under 3% | — | — | 35 min | — |
| Southold | 5% | B | A | 27 min | $116,667 |
| Ridge | under 3% | — | — | 36 min | — |
| Flanders | under 3% | — | — | 34 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Manorville, East Shoreham, Riverside, Ridge and Flanders: Census-designated places inside larger towns, graded as part of them. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Brookhaven. Darker towns draw more of Riverhead’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 Riverhead: questions
What is the median household income in Riverhead?
$94,249 (±$7,223) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Riverhead?
8.6%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Riverhead?
28 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Riverhead work?
21% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are New York City (15%, 68 mi), Brookhaven (15%, 15 mi), Southampton (11%, 15 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Riverhead walkable?
Riverhead is more walkable than 72% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.8 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Riverhead without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. 4% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Riverhead, from the people who make the trip.
More of Riverhead
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.