Photo: Nfgusedautoparts · CC BY-SA 4.0Most of Sand Lake commutes out: there are 0.4 jobs for every working resident
For jobs and income Sand Lake is better than 87% of U.S. towns (A); for walkability it is more walkable than 19% of U.S. towns (C−). There are 1,539 jobs in Sand Lake for 3,564 working residents. Household incomes here are higher than in 88% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Sand Lake in brief
Commutes from Sand Lake are quick
The average trip to work takes 25 minutes, against 33 across New York. That’s about 61 hours a year less on the road than the typical New York worker. Time on the road ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Sand Lake
72% of Sand Lake residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 50% of the jobs based in Sand Lake pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 92% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
The four measures behind Sand Lake’s grade
Household income is its strongest input ($120,089, U.S. $80,734); job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 66% 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, Sand Lake could be anywhere from B to A+.
Sand Lake’s commute takes about 25 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sand Lake workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,683 commuters (the 18% 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.
What Sand Lake’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sand Lake, 2014 → 2024: 1,507 → 1,539. 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 Sand Lake’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A workday in Sand Lake: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 3,263 residents head out to work, 301 work right here, and 1,238 people come in from elsewhere.
About 6,300 people are in Sand Lake on a workday afternoon, 24% 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.
25% of working residents work in Albany
Where Sand Lake clocks in
25% of workers
12% 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.
How far it is to work from Sand Lake
About 17% 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 Sand Lake, most people drive to work
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 32.9% across New York.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 4,511 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). 2.1% of Sand Lake households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Sand Lake’s commuters take a bus or train.
Sand Lake is 559th of 3,042 U.S. towns of 5,800 to 11,300 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 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | Lawrence NY | 6,847 | $170K | 3.5% | 3.9% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | Irvington NY | 6,533 | $173K | 1.6% | 2.1% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 113 | East Rockaway NY | 10,096 | $125K | 2.6% | 3.2% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 557 | Westlake Village CA | 7,505 | $180K | 5.8% | 4.4% | 7% | A |
| 558 | Winfield IN | 9,140 | $136K | 5.9% | 3.0% | 3% | A |
| 559 | Sand Lake NY | 8,349 | $120K | 5.1% | 3.0% | 8% | A |
| 560 | Williamsburg FL | 9,063 | $89K | 6.1% | 2.8% | 1% | A |
| 561 | Bay Harbor Islands FL | 6,021 | $90K | 5.4% | 3.2% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,042 | 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 Sand Lake, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
Work next door: 12% of Sand Lake’s workers
The biggest share goes to East Greenbush (7%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Sand Lake workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sand Lake | – | A | C− | 25 min | $120,089 |
| Berlin | under 2% | B | C | 33 min | $80,313 |
| Poestenkill | under 2% | A | D | 25 min | $126,250 |
| Nassau | under 2% | A− | D | 28 min | $93,159 |
| East Greenbush | 7% | A | A | 21 min | $105,111 |
| Schodack | 2% | A− | C− | 25 min | $108,074 |
| North Greenbush | 3% | A | B+ | 21 min | $117,372 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Sand Lake’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 Sand Lake: questions
What is the median household income in Sand Lake?
$120,089 (±$23,402) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sand Lake?
5.1%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sand Lake?
25 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 18% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sand Lake work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Albany (25%, 13 mi), Colonie (12%, 14 mi), East Greenbush (7%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Sand Lake walkable?
Sand Lake is more walkable than 19% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 5.9 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sand Lake without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sand Lake, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sand Lake
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.