Van Etten has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.4 for each
Only 5% work in Van Etten itself; outside it, Horseheads draws the most (14%, 12 miles). There are 259 jobs in Van Etten; 620 of its residents have a job. Jobs and income earn Van Etten C−; getting around on foot earns it C.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Van Etten at work: what stands out
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Van Etten
On income, poverty and job access, Van Etten is better than 19% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Van Etten’s grade up (12.5%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 17% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (3.6%) is left out: Van Etten’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, Van Etten could be anywhere from D to C+.
The workday shuffle in and out of Van Etten
On a workday 591 residents head out to work, 29 work right here, and 230 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,100 people are in Van Etten 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.
Where Van Etten goes to work
Where Van Etten clocks in
14% of workers
10% 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.
Factories, building and farms: 29% of the jobs in Van Etten
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Van Etten, 2013 → 2023: 82 → 259. 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 Van Etten’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Van Etten’s commute takes about 34 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Van Etten workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 544 commuters (the 11% 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.
Miles to work from Van Etten
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.
Driving is how Van Etten gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Van Etten is more walkable than 33% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 2.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 32.9% across New York, on an EPA index of 5.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 608 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). 10.1% of Van Etten households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Van Etten’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Van Etten is 4,479th among 6,308 U.S. towns of 1,000 to 2,000
| # | 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 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 5 | Saddle Rock NY | 1,008 | $176K | 0.8% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,477 | Falls Creek PA | 1,002 | $51K | 15.6% | 5.3% | 4% | C− |
| 4,478 | Elk Township MI | 1,498 | $62K | 11.2% | 7.1% | 3% | C− |
| 4,479 | Van Etten NY | 1,482 | $62K | 12.5% | 3.6% | 5% | C− |
| 4,480 | Philadelphia NY | 1,937 | $76K | 18.9% | 2.8% | 17% | C− |
| 4,481 | Ferndale CA | 1,348 | $63K | 13.0% | 6.1% | 14% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 6,308 | 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 Van Etten, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
Work in the towns next to Van Etten
The biggest share goes to Spencer (6%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Van Etten workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Van Etten | – | C− | C | 34 min | $61,620 |
| Barton | under 3% | C− | C+ | 20 min | $54,799 |
| Cayuta | under 3% | — | — | 28 min | — |
| Spencer | 6% | C− | D | 29 min | $63,309 |
| Erin | under 3% | C+ | D | 31 min | $66,583 |
| Baldwin | under 3% | — | — | 29 min | — |
| Newfield | under 3% | C+ | C+ | 26 min | $74,333 |
Same-state neighbors only. Cayuta and Baldwin: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Van Etten’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 Van Etten: questions
What is the median household income in Van Etten?
$61,620 (±$5,766) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Van Etten?
12.5%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Van Etten?
34 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 Van Etten work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Horseheads (14%, 12 mi), Elmira (10%, 15 mi), Ithaca (6%, 13 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Van Etten walkable?
Van Etten is more walkable than 33% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 5.0 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Van Etten without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Van Etten, from the people who make the trip.
More of Van Etten
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.