Wolcott’s household incomes are lower than in 94% of U.S. towns
6% of workers have no commute at all, against 15% across New York. Poverty touches 20.8% of residents, next to 14.0% for New York as a whole. The two grades for Wolcott are D− 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
Wolcott and work: the main findings
Fewer jobs are based in Wolcott than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Wolcott fell from 590 in 2013 to 328 in 2023, −44%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Wolcott are quick
The average trip to work takes 25 minutes, against 33 across New York. That’s about 61 hours a year less on the road than the typical New York worker. Time on the road ↓
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 638 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Wolcott
On income, poverty and job access, Wolcott is better than 5% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Wolcott’s grade.
Unemployment (4.3%) is left out: Wolcott’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, Wolcott could be anywhere from D− to D.
What work there is in Wolcott: 328 jobs
328 jobs are based in Wolcott.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Wolcott, 2013 → 2023: 590 → 328. 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 Wolcott’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 25 minutes to work from Wolcott
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Wolcott workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 548 commuters (the 6% 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.
Wolcott quiets down on a workday
On a workday 598 residents head out to work, 40 work right here, and 288 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,200 people are in Wolcott on a workday afternoon, 20% fewer than live here.
0.51 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
13% of working residents work in Wolcott
Where Wolcott clocks in
5% 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.
Where in the region Wolcott works
About 15% 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 Wolcott, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Wolcott is more walkable than 85% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 8.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 32.9% across New York, on an EPA index of 8.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 580 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). 17.9% of Wolcott households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Wolcott’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Wolcott compares with U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,100
| # | 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 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 5 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,271 | Gordon GA | 1,720 | $47K | 23.9% | 1.6% | 8% | D− |
| 5,272 | Linn MO | 1,453 | $36K | 25.5% | 0.2% | 16% | D− |
| 5,273 | Wolcott NY | 1,558 | $43K | 20.8% | 4.3% | 6% | D− |
| 5,274 | Calhoun Falls SC | 1,779 | $39K | 16.6% | 2.5% | 5% | D− |
| 5,275 | West Liberty WV | 1,429 | $44K | 33.6% | 7.1% | 3% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,794 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 Wolcott, 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 Wolcott: questions
What is the median household income in Wolcott?
$43,261 (±$5,991) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Wolcott?
20.8%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Wolcott?
25 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Wolcott work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Wolcott (13%, 4 mi), Huron (8%, 4 mi), Rochester (5%, 41 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Wolcott walkable?
Wolcott is more walkable than 85% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.0 out of 20, and 9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Wolcott without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 18% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Wolcott, from the people who make the trip.
More of Wolcott
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.