Essex County Fairgrounds · Photo: Mwanner · CC BY-SA 3.0Where Westport earns its living
Commuters spend 30 minutes getting to work on average, where New York has 33 and the U.S. 26. The two grades for Westport are C− for jobs and income and B for walkability. About one in ten work in Westport; the top destination outside it is Elizabethtown (23%, 10 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Westport stands out on work
Where Westport’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty and job access, Westport is better than 22% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Westport’s grade up (11.0%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 3% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (13.1%) is left out: Westport’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, Westport could be anywhere from D to C+.
Westport by day and by night
On a workday 435 residents head out to work, 55 work right here, and 570 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,400 people are in Westport on a workday afternoon, 11% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.28 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Out of Westport to work: where people go
Where Westport clocks in
23% of workers
9% 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.
Health, schools and offices: most of the jobs in Westport
625 jobs are based in Westport.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Westport, 2014 → 2024: 274 → 625. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Westport’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 30 minutes in Westport
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Westport workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 553 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.
The distance from Westport to work
About 22% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Getting around Westport: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Westport is more walkable than 60% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 3.9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 32.9% across New York, on an EPA index of 6.7.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 626 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). 9.2% of Westport households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Westport’s commuters take a bus or train.
3,213th of 4,866: where Westport ranks among U.S. towns of 900 to 1,700
| # | 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% | 2% | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,211 | Morgantown IN | 1,007 | $54K | 15.0% | 16.0% | 2% | C− |
| 3,212 | Mayville NY | 1,474 | $69K | 14.6% | 8.2% | 17% | C− |
| 3,213 | Westport NY | 1,272 | $71K | 11.0% | 13.1% | 11% | C− |
| 3,214 | Black Lick Township PA | 1,105 | $69K | 14.8% | 7.7% | 1% | C− |
| 3,215 | Beaver WI | 1,192 | $65K | 11.0% | 1.3% | 3% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,866 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 1% | 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 Westport, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
The towns next door employ 31% of Westport
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Westport workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Westport | – | C− | B | 30 min | $71,146 |
| Elizabethtown | 23% | D | B− | 16 min | $57,222 |
| Essex | 2% | — | — | 24 min | — |
| Moriah | 6% | C | C+ | 32 min | $63,113 |
| Lewis | under 2% | B− | D− | 25 min | $82,083 |
Same-state neighbors only. Essex: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Elizabethtown. Darker towns draw more of Westport’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 2024, 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 Westport: questions
What is the median household income in Westport?
$71,146 (±$12,521) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Westport?
11.0%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Westport?
30 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 Westport work?
11% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Elizabethtown (23%, 10 mi), Keene (9%, 22 mi), Moriah (6%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Westport walkable?
Westport is more walkable than 60% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 6.7 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Westport without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Westport, from the people who make the trip.
More of Westport
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.