At 7.8%, unemployment in Solvay is higher than in 87% of U.S. towns
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 6.8 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 33.1 in Syracuse. The two grades for Solvay are B− for jobs and income and A for walkability. For 7% of workers, the job is at home, where New York as a whole has 15%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Solvay
Commutes from Solvay are quick
The average trip to work takes 19 minutes, against 33 across New York. That’s about 107 hours a year less on the road than the typical New York worker. Time on the road ↓
A lot of Solvay works one town over
44% of working residents work in a town that borders Solvay: Syracuse (32%), Geddes (8%) and Camillus (4%). Next door ↓
Most Solvay residents work close to home
71% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. How far ↓
Solvay makes and builds things
41% of the jobs based in Solvay are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Solvay residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 12%. The jobs ↓
Most jobs in Solvay pay over $40,000 a year
72% of the jobs based in Solvay 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.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Solvay
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Solvay is better than 46% of U.S. towns, #444 of 758 in New York. Job access by car holds Solvay’s grade up (ahead of 80% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down. It also does well on the poverty rate.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Solvay could be anywhere from C to A−.
About 19 minutes to work from Solvay
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Solvay workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,881 commuters (the 7% 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.
Half of Solvay commutes less than 5 miles
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 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
A place that makes things: 41% of Solvay’s jobs are in goods
2,222 jobs are based in Solvay.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Solvay, 2013 → 2023: 2,189 → 2,222. 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 Solvay’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily commute in and out of Solvay
On a workday 2,690 residents head out to work, 168 work right here, and 2,054 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,800 people are in Solvay on a workday afternoon, 10% fewer than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.78 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.
32% of working residents work in Syracuse
Where Solvay clocks in
32% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Solvay
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Solvay is more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns, #153 of 758 in New York. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 5.3% 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 3,093 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 50% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 6.8 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 89% 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). 12.1% of Solvay households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 4% of Solvay’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 4,500 to 8,700, Solvay ranks 1,979th of 3,306 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 | Norwood NJ | 5,817 | $178K | 2.8% | 0.9% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 7 | Lawrence NY | 6,847 | $170K | 3.5% | 3.9% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | Irvington NY | 6,533 | $173K | 1.6% | 2.1% | 6% | A+ |
| 15 | Kings Point NY | 5,710 | $211K | 0.9% | 2.4% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,977 | Tice FL | 4,758 | $54K | 19.4% | 2.1% | 2% | B− |
| 1,978 | Buena NJ | 4,529 | $80K | 8.7% | 11.4% | 6% | B− |
| 1,979 | Solvay NY | 6,427 | $61K | 6.9% | 7.8% | 6% | B− |
| 1,980 | Louisburg KS | 5,299 | $69K | 9.7% | 5.9% | 9% | B− |
| 1,981 | Dayton KY | 5,974 | $66K | 15.9% | 5.0% | 4% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,306 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Solvay, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
The towns next door employ 44% of Solvay
The biggest share goes to Syracuse (32%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Solvay workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Solvay | – | B− | A | 19 min | $61,166 |
| Geddes | 8% | B+ | A− | 19 min | $76,839 |
| Syracuse | 32% | C− | A+ | 18 min | $47,819 |
| Fairmount | under 2% | — | — | 19 min | — |
| Camillus | 4% | A− | B | 21 min | $85,915 |
Same-state neighbors only. Fairmount: a Census-designated place inside a larger town, graded as part of it. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Solvay’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 Solvay: questions
What is the median household income in Solvay?
$61,166 (±$6,532) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Solvay?
6.9%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Solvay?
19 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Solvay work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Syracuse (32%, 4 mi), DeWitt (10%, 7 mi), Geddes (8%, 2 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Solvay walkable?
Solvay is more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 13.5 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Solvay without a car?
4% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. 50% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Solvay, from the people who make the trip.
More of Solvay
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.