Hatheway Homestead · Photo: Jack Boucher · Public domainWith 0.1 jobs for every working resident, most of Solon works elsewhere
Solon grades C+ for jobs and income and D for walkability. Employers in Solon report 40 jobs, against 388 working residents. Hardly any stay in Solon for work; outside it, Cortlandville is the main destination (17%, 5 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Solon, in brief
Solon is a place people come home to
There are 40 jobs based in Solon, about one for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Solon has about 710 people in it, 33% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Solon 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 ↓
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 388 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Income, poverty and work: Solon’s grade explained
On income, poverty and job access, Solon is better than 44% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Solon’s grade up (7.3%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 16% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (3.1%) is left out: Solon’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Solon could be anywhere from C− to B.
Who commutes out of Solon, and who commutes in
On a workday 386 residents head out to work, 2 work right here, and 38 people come in from elsewhere.
About 710 people are in Solon on a workday afternoon, 33% 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.
Solon’s commute takes about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Solon workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 419 commuters (the 8% 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.
Commuting out of Solon: the destinations
Where Solon clocks in
17% of workers
12% 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.
What Solon’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Solon, 2013 → 2023: 46 → 40. 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 Solon’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Solon’s workers travel
About 19% 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 Solon, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Solon is more walkable than 6% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 0.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 32.9% across New York, on an EPA index of 2.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 457 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). 8.5% of Solon households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Solon’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 700 to 1,400, Solon ranks 1,210th of 3,133 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,208 | Auglaize Township OH | 1,369 | $61K | 4.0% | 0.0% | 2% | C+ |
| 1,209 | Riverdale Park CA | 1,137 | $62K | 10.7% | 0.0% | 1% | C+ |
| 1,210 | Solon NY | 1,054 | $80K | 7.3% | 3.1% | 1% | C+ |
| 1,211 | Seneca WI | 1,030 | $87K | 11.0% | 4.7% | 1% | C+ |
| 1,212 | Cañoncito NM | 1,253 | $78K | 8.2% | 0.0% | 1% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,133 | 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 Solon, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
Bordering towns draw 20% of Solon’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Solon workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Solon | – | C+ | D | 24 min | $80,000 |
| Freetown | under 3% | — | — | 34 min | — |
| Cortlandville | 17% | C+ | B+ | 21 min | $73,617 |
| Taylor | under 3% | — | — | 38 min | — |
| Truxton | 3% | — | — | 29 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Freetown and Taylor: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Truxton: not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Cortlandville. Darker towns draw more of Solon’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 Solon: questions
What is the median household income in Solon?
$80,000 (±$19,258) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Solon?
7.3%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Solon?
24 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 Solon work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Cortlandville (17%, 5 mi), Cortland (12%, 8 mi), Tully (4%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Solon walkable?
Solon is more walkable than 6% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 2.2 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Solon without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Solon, from the people who make the trip.
More of Solon
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.