Photo: Hayden Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Household incomes in Southampton are among the highest of any U.S. town
Household incomes here are among the highest in the country. 4.8% of residents are in poverty; New York has 14.0%. Jobs and income earn Southampton B+; getting around on foot earns it A+.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Southampton in brief
Southampton has far more jobs than workers
Southampton has 5,117 jobs, 3.5 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 8,400 people are in town, 77% more than the 4,700 who live here. Day and night ↓
Southampton and Southampton trade workers both ways
Southampton is the top workplace for Southampton residents (34%) and also where the most people who work in Southampton come from (42% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Commutes from Southampton are quick
The average trip to work takes 22 minutes, against 33 across New York. That’s about 84 hours a year less on the road than the typical New York worker. Time on the road ↓
Home offices are common in Southampton
25% of Southampton workers work from home, against 15% across New York. Time on the road ↓
Most jobs in Southampton pay over $40,000 a year
75% of the jobs based in Southampton 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 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Where Southampton’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Southampton is better than 66% of U.S. towns, #288 of 758 in New York. Household income holds Southampton’s grade up ($214,032, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down (10.0%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Southampton could be anywhere from B− to A−.
How a workday changes Southampton
On a workday 1,159 residents head out to work, 306 work right here, and 4,811 people come in from elsewhere.
About 8,400 people are in Southampton on a workday afternoon, 77% more than live here.
3.5 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Commuting in to Southampton: where workers come from
Where Southampton clocks in
34% of workers
17% of workers
6% 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.
Getting to work from Southampton takes about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Southampton workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,581 commuters (the 25% 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.
75% of the jobs in Southampton pay over $3,333 a month
5,117 jobs are based in Southampton.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Southampton, 2014 → 2024: 5,236 → 5,117. 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 Southampton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Half of Southampton commutes less than 37 miles
About 37% 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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Southampton
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Southampton is more walkable than 96% of U.S. towns, #95 of 758 in New York. Both inputs place Southampton near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,112 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 27% 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 0.2 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 43% 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). 3.0% of Southampton households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 9% of Southampton’s commuters take a bus or train.
Southampton is 1,391st of 3,867 U.S. towns of 3,300 to 6,400 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 10 | Lloyd Harbor NY | 3,587 | $250K | 2.1% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 20 | Kings Point NY | 5,710 | $211K | 0.9% | 2.4% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | North Hills NY | 5,481 | $173K | 3.0% | 1.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,389 | Lee NY | 6,004 | $94K | 5.8% | 3.8% | 3% | B+ |
| 1,390 | Maplewood WA | 5,803 | $136K | 5.6% | 8.1% | 1% | B+ |
| 1,391 | Southampton NY | 4,730 | $214K | 4.8% | 10.0% | 21% | B+ |
| 1,392 | Philomath OR | 5,699 | $84K | 7.2% | 3.2% | 9% | B+ |
| 1,393 | Sewickley Township PA | 5,535 | $75K | 14.2% | 1.4% | 5% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,867 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 19% | 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 Southampton, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
Around Southampton: the bordering towns
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Southampton workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southampton | – | B+ | A+ | 22 min | $214,032 |
| Water Mill | under 2% | — | — | 19 min | — |
| North Sea | under 2% | — | — | 27 min | — |
| Shinnecock Hills | under 2% | — | — | 25 min | — |
| Tuckahoe | under 2% | — | — | 55 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Water Mill, North Sea, Shinnecock Hills and Tuckahoe: Census-designated places inside larger towns, graded as part of them. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Southampton’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 Southampton: questions
What is the median household income in Southampton?
$214,032 (±$74,567) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Southampton?
4.8%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Southampton?
22 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 25% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Southampton work?
21% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Southampton (34%, 3 mi), New York City (17%, 82 mi), Brookhaven (6%, 29 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Southampton walkable?
Southampton is more walkable than 96% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 10.5 out of 20, and 29% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Southampton without a car?
9% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Southampton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Southampton
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.