Photo: Daniel Case · CC BY-SA 3.0Walden has 0.3 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Only 6% work in Walden itself; outside it, Montgomery draws the most (19%, 2 miles). There are 1,028 jobs in Walden for 3,398 working residents. The two grades for Walden are B for jobs and income and A for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Walden
Walden and Montgomery trade workers both ways
Montgomery is the top workplace for Walden residents (19%) and also where the most people who work in Walden come from (34% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Walden is a place people come home to
There are 1,028 jobs based in Walden, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Walden has about 4,600 people in it, 34% fewer than live here. 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.
Where Walden’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Walden is better than 60% of U.S. towns, #337 of 758 in New York. Household income holds Walden’s grade up ($87,487, U.S. $80,734); the poverty rate pulls it down (11.1%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on unemployment and job access by car.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Walden could be anywhere from C+ to A.
Where the trip to work from Walden ends
Where Walden clocks in
19% of workers
13% 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.
Walden by day and by night
On a workday 3,183 residents head out to work, 215 work right here, and 813 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,600 people are in Walden on a workday afternoon, 34% 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.
Goods, not services: 28% of the jobs in Walden
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Walden, 2013 → 2023: 1,164 → 1,028. 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 Walden’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Walden, about 35 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Walden workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,170 commuters (the 9% 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.
How many miles Walden commutes
About 25% 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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Walden
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Walden is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns, #208 of 758 in New York. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 4.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 32.9% across New York.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 3,474 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 62% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 14% 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). 3.0% of Walden households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of Walden’s commuters take a bus or train.
Walden next to U.S. towns of 4,900 to 9,400: 1,485th of 3,167 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | Lawrence NY | 6,847 | $170K | 3.5% | 3.9% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 15 | Irvington NY | 6,533 | $173K | 1.6% | 2.1% | 6% | A+ |
| 16 | Kings Point NY | 5,710 | $211K | 0.9% | 2.4% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,483 | North Hanover Township NJ | 8,189 | $87K | 8.7% | 6.0% | 5% | B |
| 1,484 | Duanesburg NY | 6,020 | $95K | 9.8% | 4.1% | 8% | B |
| 1,485 | Walden NY | 6,935 | $87K | 11.1% | 4.0% | 6% | B |
| 1,486 | Sky Lake FL | 8,116 | $70K | 12.5% | 3.9% | 3% | B |
| 1,487 | Cresaptown MD | 5,121 | $68K | 3.3% | 0.0% | 5% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 3,167 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Walden, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
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 Walden: questions
What is the median household income in Walden?
$87,487 (±$11,090) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Walden?
11.1%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Walden?
35 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Walden work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Montgomery (19%, 2 mi), New York City (13%, 63 mi), Wallkill (7%, 12 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Walden walkable?
Walden is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 11.6 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Walden without a car?
3% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 14% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Walden, from the people who make the trip.
More of Walden
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.