Borodino Hall · Photo: Lvklock · CC BY-SA 4.0Most of Spafford commutes out: there are 0.1 jobs for every working resident
89 jobs are based in Spafford for 611 working residents. Jobs and income earn Spafford B+; getting around on foot earns it C. Measured by household income, Spafford is ahead of 84% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Spafford, in brief
The four measures behind Spafford’s grade
On income, poverty and job access, Spafford is better than 73% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Spafford’s grade up ($111,138, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 35% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate.
Unemployment (1.2%) is left out: Spafford’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, Spafford could be anywhere from B to A−.
In and out of Spafford on a workday
On a workday 597 residents head out to work, 14 work right here, and 75 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,100 people are in Spafford 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.
24% of working residents work in Syracuse
Where Spafford clocks in
24% of workers
11% 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.
Factories, building and farms: 36% of the jobs in Spafford
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Spafford, 2013 → 2023: 59 → 89. 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 Spafford’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Spafford takes about 32 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Spafford workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 680 commuters (the 18% 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 Spafford
About 18% 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.
Few in Spafford walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Spafford is more walkable than 27% of U.S. towns. 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 3.8.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 834 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). 1.3% of Spafford households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Spafford’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,200, Spafford ranks 1,035th of 6,161 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 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 4 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 5 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,033 | Tioga TX | 1,302 | $86K | 7.4% | 2.9% | 2% | B+ |
| 1,034 | Rock Creek Township IN | 1,277 | $77K | 4.2% | 7.9% | 2% | B+ |
| 1,035 | Spafford NY | 1,596 | $111K | 5.8% | 1.2% | 2% | B+ |
| 1,036 | Shell Point SC | 1,439 | $82K | 3.1% | 6.4% | 1% | B+ |
| 1,037 | Lexington IL | 2,079 | $99K | 4.2% | 4.1% | 6% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6,161 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 Spafford, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
Next door is work for 11% of Spafford
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Spafford workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spafford | – | B+ | C | 32 min | $111,138 |
| Otisco | under 3% | B+ | C+ | 27 min | $83,950 |
| Skaneateles | 11% | B+ | A | 22 min | $103,545 |
| Niles | under 3% | C | C− | 26 min | $80,588 |
| Scott | under 3% | C+ | C | 34 min | $93,889 |
| Sempronius | under 3% | — | — | 29 min | — |
| Tully | under 3% | B+ | B+ | 28 min | $108,529 |
Same-state neighbors only. Sempronius: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Skaneateles. Darker towns draw more of Spafford’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 Spafford: questions
What is the median household income in Spafford?
$111,138 (±$3,883) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Spafford?
5.8%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Spafford?
32 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 18% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Spafford work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Syracuse (24%, 16 mi), Skaneateles (11%, 8 mi), Auburn (7%, 16 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Spafford walkable?
Spafford is more walkable than 27% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 3.8 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Spafford without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Spafford, from the people who make the trip.
More of Spafford
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.