Common School 32 · Photo: Daniel Case · CC BY-SA 3.0Tompkins has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.1 for each
Tompkins grades C− for jobs and income and C for walkability. 49 jobs are based in Tompkins for 463 working residents. Home is the office for 24% of workers (New York 15%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Tompkins, in a few figures
Tompkins workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 70 minutes each way, against 33 across New York. Over a year that’s about 537 hours of commuting, 284 more than the state’s typical worker. Every town next door averages less (17 to 30 minutes). Time on the road ↓
Tompkins is a place people come home to
There are 49 jobs based in Tompkins, about one for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Tompkins has about 850 people in it, 33% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
A big share show a job far from home
43% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
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; with 463 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Jobs & income in Tompkins: the grade in detail
On income, poverty and job access, Tompkins is better than 20% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Tompkins’ grade up (8.8%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 3% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (0.7%) is left out: Tompkins’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Tompkins could be anywhere from D to B−.
Each way, about 70 minutes from Tompkins
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 22.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Tompkins workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 508 commuters (the 23% 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.
Tompkins quiets down on a workday
On a workday 460 residents head out to work, 3 work right here, and 46 people come in from elsewhere.
About 850 people are in Tompkins 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.
How far Tompkins’ workers travel
About 43% 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.
11% of working residents work in Deposit
Where Tompkins clocks in
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.
80% of the jobs in Tompkins make or build things
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Tompkins, 2013 → 2023: 35 → 49. 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 Tompkins’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Few in Tompkins walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Tompkins is more walkable than 29% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 3.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 32.9% across New York, on an EPA index of 3.7.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 664 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). 0.7% of Tompkins households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Tompkins’ commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 4,866 U.S. towns of 900 to 1,700, Tompkins comes 3,341st 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 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 4 | Saddle Rock NY | 1,008 | $176K | 0.8% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,339 | Center Township IN | 1,471 | $61K | 11.7% | 0.3% | 1% | C− |
| 3,340 | Taylor Township IN | 1,084 | $55K | 8.6% | 2.9% | <1% | C− |
| 3,341 | Tompkins NY | 1,265 | $61K | 8.8% | 0.7% | 1% | C− |
| 3,342 | Raymond MS | 1,384 | $40K | 20.6% | 4.0% | 4% | C− |
| 3,343 | Franklinville NC | 1,256 | $53K | 18.2% | 2.8% | 2% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,866 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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 Tompkins, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
Tompkins and its neighbors: 18% work next door
The biggest share goes to Deposit (11%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Tompkins workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tompkins | – | C− | C | 70 min | $61,103 |
| Walton | 5% | D− | B+ | 17 min | $49,183 |
| Deposit | 11% | — | — | 22 min | — |
| Hancock | under 2% | D | B− | 30 min | $62,243 |
| Masonville | 2% | D | D− | 27 min | $58,750 |
Same-state neighbors only. Deposit: the same community as the village of that name, graded once. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Tompkins’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 Tompkins: questions
What is the median household income in Tompkins?
$61,103 (±$27,391) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Tompkins?
8.8%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Tompkins?
70 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 24% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Tompkins work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Deposit (11%, 5 mi), Sidney (11%, 13 mi), New York City (7%, 122 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Tompkins walkable?
Tompkins is more walkable than 29% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 3.7 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Tompkins without a car?
1% 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 Tompkins, from the people who make the trip.
More of Tompkins
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.