Pioneer Cemetery · Photo: Renee2k · CC BY-SA 3.0More people are out of work in Sidney (8.6%) than in 91% of U.S. towns
About one in five stay in Sidney for work; outside it, New York City is the main destination (6%, 133 miles). Sidney grades D for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. Household incomes here are lower than in 85% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Sidney in brief
Sidney makes and builds things
53% of the jobs based in Sidney are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Sidney residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 24%. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Sidney are quick
The average trip to work takes 24 minutes, against 33 across New York. That’s about 69 hours a year less on the road than the typical New York worker. Time on the road ↓
A big share show a job far from home
35% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Most jobs in Sidney pay over $40,000 a year
72% of the jobs based in Sidney pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), the top earnings band in the Census data. 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.
Income, poverty and work: Sidney’s grade explained
All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Sidney’s grade.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Sidney could be anywhere from D− to C.
Factories, building and farms: 53% of the jobs in Sidney
2,779 jobs are based in Sidney.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sidney, 2013 → 2023: 3,009 → 2,779. 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 Sidney’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The trip to work from Sidney: about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sidney workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,032 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Sidney
About 35% 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.
Sidney fills up on a workday
On a workday 1,685 residents head out to work, 452 work right here, and 2,327 people come in from elsewhere.
About 6,000 people are in Sidney on a workday afternoon, 12% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.30 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.
Where Sidney goes to work
Where Sidney clocks in
6% of workers
5% of workers
4% 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.
For most of Sidney, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Sidney is more walkable than 42% of U.S. towns, #566 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 5.7.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,232 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). 17.6% of Sidney households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Sidney’s commuters take a bus or train.
Sidney and other U.S. towns of 3,800 to 7,300
| # | 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 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 8 | Lawrence NY | 6,847 | $170K | 3.5% | 3.9% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 16 | Irvington NY | 6,533 | $173K | 1.6% | 2.1% | 6% | A+ |
| 17 | Kings Point NY | 5,710 | $211K | 0.9% | 2.4% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,384 | Oxford Township OH | 4,637 | $54K | 31.3% | 16.7% | 20% | D |
| 3,385 | Lancaster KY | 4,111 | $44K | 29.1% | 11.7% | 15% | D |
| 3,386 | Sidney NY | 5,391 | $52K | 19.7% | 8.6% | 21% | D |
| 3,387 | Piñon Hills CA | 7,065 | $68K | 18.6% | 19.4% | 3% | D |
| 3,388 | Moses Lake North WA | 4,517 | $58K | 29.8% | 13.5% | 5% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,541 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Sidney, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
How Sidney compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Bainbridge (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Sidney workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sidney | – | D | C+ | 24 min | $52,347 |
| Unadilla | 2% | C− | B | 23 min | $56,484 |
| Otego | under 3% | C− | C+ | 22 min | $77,553 |
| Unadilla | under 3% | D | B+ | 23 min | $65,972 |
| Masonville | under 3% | D | D− | 27 min | $58,750 |
| Franklin | under 3% | C | B− | 27 min | $64,323 |
| Bainbridge | 3% | C− | C+ | 22 min | $60,391 |
| Walton | 2% | D− | B+ | 17 min | $49,183 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Sidney’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 Sidney: questions
What is the median household income in Sidney?
$52,347 (±$8,594) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sidney?
19.7%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sidney?
24 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sidney work?
21% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are New York City (6%, 133 mi), Oneonta (5%, 15 mi), Oneonta (4%, 12 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Sidney walkable?
Sidney is more walkable than 42% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 5.7 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sidney without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 18% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sidney, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sidney
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.