Photo: Idawriter · CC BY-SA 3.0Most of Sullivan commutes out: there are 0.3 jobs for every working resident
Employers in Sullivan report 2,292 jobs, against 6,702 working residents. The two grades for Sullivan are B for jobs and income and C for walkability. About one in ten work in Sullivan itself; outside it, Syracuse draws the most (18%, 14 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Sullivan, in a few figures
Commutes from Sullivan are quick
The average trip to work takes 26 minutes, against 33 across New York. That’s about 54 hours a year less on the road than the typical New York worker. Time on the road ↓
Sullivan empties out on a workday
About 10,000 people are in Sullivan on a workday afternoon, 30% fewer than the 15,000 who live here: 6,000 head out to work and 1,600 come in. Day and night ↓
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.
Inside Sullivan’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Sullivan is better than 61% of U.S. towns, #333 of 758 in New York. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Sullivan’s grade. It also does well on household income and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Sullivan could be anywhere from B− to A−.
About 26 minutes to work from Sullivan
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sullivan workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,554 commuters (the 12% 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.
Sullivan on a workday afternoon
On a workday 6,048 residents head out to work, 654 work right here, and 1,638 people come in from elsewhere.
About 10,000 people are in Sullivan on a workday afternoon, 30% 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.
The towns that employ Sullivan’s residents
Where Sullivan clocks in
18% 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.
The kinds of work in Sullivan
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sullivan, 2013 → 2023: 2,444 → 2,292. 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 Sullivan’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far it is to work from Sullivan
About 16% 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.
In Sullivan, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Sullivan is more walkable than 33% of U.S. towns, #630 of 758 in New York. Both inputs place Sullivan 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 6,302 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). 2.5% of Sullivan households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Sullivan’s commuters take a bus or train.
1,239th of 2,362: where Sullivan ranks among U.S. towns of 10,000 to 20,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 56 | Floral Park NY | 16,105 | $150K | 3.0% | 3.1% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 81 | East Rockaway NY | 10,096 | $125K | 2.6% | 3.2% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 83 | North Castle NY | 12,360 | $208K | 3.8% | 3.1% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,237 | Groves TX | 16,907 | $74K | 8.0% | 4.1% | 6% | B |
| 1,238 | Woodside Township IL | 11,300 | $73K | 11.6% | 3.0% | 5% | B |
| 1,239 | Sullivan NY | 14,623 | $81K | 8.2% | 3.9% | 10% | B |
| 1,240 | Timberlake VA | 12,725 | $76K | 8.5% | 3.4% | 5% | B |
| 1,241 | White Center WA | 14,886 | $87K | 14.5% | 4.9% | 2% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 2,362 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Sullivan, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
Next door is work for 12% of Sullivan
The biggest share goes to Manlius (6%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Sullivan workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sullivan | – | B | C | 26 min | $80,948 |
| Manlius | 6% | A− | A− | 21 min | $113,449 |
| Cicero | 3% | B+ | B− | 20 min | $96,463 |
| Constantia | under 3% | D | D | 37 min | $69,792 |
| Vienna | under 3% | C+ | C+ | 28 min | $83,244 |
| Lenox | 3% | C+ | C+ | 25 min | $75,900 |
| Fenner | under 3% | C+ | C+ | 26 min | $77,750 |
| Cazenovia | under 3% | B+ | A− | 23 min | $108,250 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Sullivan’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 Sullivan: questions
What is the median household income in Sullivan?
$80,948 (±$5,531) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sullivan?
8.2%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sullivan?
26 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sullivan work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Syracuse (18%, 14 mi), DeWitt (14%, 10 mi), Manlius (6%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Sullivan walkable?
Sullivan is more walkable than 33% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 6.0 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sullivan without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sullivan, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sullivan
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.