Worcester Historic District · Photo: Doug Kerr from Upstate New York · CC BY-SA 2.0Worcester has 0.3 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Employers in Worcester report 287 jobs for 831 working residents. Jobs and income earn Worcester C−; getting around on foot earns it C. About one in seven stay in Worcester for work; outside it, Otsego is the main destination (7%, 17 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Worcester apart
The four measures behind Worcester’s grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Worcester is better than 15% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Worcester’s grade up ($69,886, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 8% of U.S. towns).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Worcester could be anywhere from D− to B−.
Getting to work from Worcester takes about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Worcester workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 909 commuters (the 8% 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 a workday changes Worcester
On a workday 727 residents head out to work, 104 work right here, and 183 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,500 people are in Worcester on a workday afternoon, 26% 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.
Out of Worcester to work: where people go
Where Worcester clocks in
7% 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.
The kinds of work in Worcester
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Worcester, 2013 → 2023: 276 → 287. 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 Worcester’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Worcester’s commute, mile by mile
About 28% 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.
Worcester is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Worcester is more walkable than 31% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 3.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 32.9% across New York, on an EPA index of 4.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 992 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). 10.8% of Worcester households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Worcester’s commuters take a bus or train.
4,585th of 5,793: where Worcester ranks among U.S. towns of 1,400 to 2,800
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 8 | Atlantic Beach NY | 1,723 | $166K | 1.8% | 3.1% | 3% | A+ |
| 9 | Village of the Branch NY | 1,764 | $174K | 1.5% | 3.1% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,583 | Amelia LA | 1,712 | $55K | 18.0% | 7.6% | 6% | C− |
| 4,584 | Hersey Township MI | 2,013 | $62K | 12.6% | 5.4% | 3% | C− |
| 4,585 | Worcester NY | 2,054 | $70K | 21.7% | 5.1% | 13% | C− |
| 4,586 | Beccaria Township PA | 1,741 | $60K | 13.6% | 11.1% | 5% | C− |
| 4,587 | Joseph City AZ | 2,153 | $75K | 17.1% | 7.8% | 11% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,793 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Worcester, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
Worcester and its neighbors
The biggest share goes to Maryland (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Worcester workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Worcester | – | C− | C | 26 min | $69,886 |
| Harpersfield | under 2% | D− | B− | 31 min | $52,118 |
| Summit | under 2% | B− | C+ | 34 min | $74,375 |
| Decatur | under 2% | — | — | 35 min | — |
| Richmondville | under 2% | C− | C+ | 29 min | $51,046 |
| Maryland | 2% | C− | D− | 33 min | $63,036 |
| Westford | under 2% | — | — | 28 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Decatur and Westford: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Worcester’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 Worcester: questions
What is the median household income in Worcester?
$69,886 (±$22,798) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Worcester?
21.7%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Worcester?
26 minutes each way on average, against 33 across New York and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Worcester work?
13% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Otsego (7%, 17 mi), Oneonta (7%, 20 mi), New York City (6%, 139 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Worcester walkable?
Worcester is more walkable than 31% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 4.0 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Worcester without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Worcester, from the people who make the trip.
More of Worcester
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.