Photo: Mr. Matté (if there is an issue with this image, contact me using this image's Commons talk page, my Commons user talk page, or my English Wikipedia user talk page; I'll know about it a lot faster) · CC BY-SA 4.0With 0.4 jobs for every working resident, most of Somerset works elsewhere
Jobs and income earn Somerset C; getting around on foot earns it C−. Somerset has 445 jobs; 1,049 of its residents have a job. About one in ten stay in Somerset for work; outside it, Lockport is the main destination (11%, 14 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What’s behind Somerset’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Somerset is better than 32% of U.S. towns, #567 of 758 in New York. Unemployment holds Somerset’s grade up (3.8%, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 17% of U.S. towns).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Somerset could be anywhere from D to B.
How a workday changes Somerset
On a workday 927 residents head out to work, 122 work right here, and 323 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,900 people are in Somerset 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 2023, primary jobs.
Commuting out of Somerset: the destinations
Where Somerset clocks in
11% of workers
8% 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.
Somerset makes things: 30% of its jobs are in goods
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Somerset, 2013 → 2023: 561 → 445. 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 Somerset’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Somerset, about 32 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Somerset workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,121 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Somerset
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.
Driving is how Somerset gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Somerset is more walkable than 16% of U.S. towns, #699 of 758 in New York. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 1.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 32.9% across New York, on an EPA index of 4.6.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,247 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). 5.7% of Somerset households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Somerset’s commuters take a bus or train.
Somerset next to U.S. towns of 1,800 to 3,400: 3,128th of 4,868 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6 | Old Brookville NY | 2,098 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | East Williston NY | 2,616 | $215K | 2.3% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 10 | Laurel Hollow NY | 1,949 | $250K | 3.5% | 2.2% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,126 | Clark Township OH | 2,993 | $74K | 11.4% | 4.9% | 2% | C |
| 3,127 | Washington Township IN | 1,882 | $59K | 8.5% | 3.3% | 9% | C |
| 3,128 | Somerset NY | 2,549 | $69K | 12.8% | 3.8% | 12% | C |
| 3,129 | Jefferson Township OH | 2,501 | $68K | 22.3% | 2.4% | 1% | C |
| 3,130 | Oakhurst OK | 2,175 | $57K | 18.9% | 5.8% | 2% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 4,868 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Somerset, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
How Somerset compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Newfane (6%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Somerset’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 Somerset: questions
What is the median household income in Somerset?
$69,167 (±$13,523) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Somerset?
12.8%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Somerset?
32 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 Somerset work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lockport (11%, 14 mi), Buffalo (8%, 34 mi), Lockport (7%, 15 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Somerset walkable?
Somerset is more walkable than 16% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 4.6 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Somerset without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Somerset, from the people who make the trip.
More of Somerset
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.