Photo: ajay_suresh · CC BY 2.0For about half of its working residents, Yonkers is a commute to New York City
The average commute takes 36 minutes each way; New York averages 33, the U.S. 26. Yonkers grades B− for jobs and income and A+ for walkability. About one in five work in Yonkers; the top destination outside it is New York City (46%, 20 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The short version on getting to work from Yonkers
Income, poverty and work: Yonkers’ grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Yonkers is better than 54% of U.S. towns, #389 of 758 in New York. Job access by car holds Yonkers’ grade up (among the top U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (7.1%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Yonkers could be anywhere from B− to B.
Yonkers by day and by night
On a workday 66,735 residents head out to work, 14,254 work right here, and 37,231 people come in from elsewhere.
About 183,000 people are in Yonkers on a workday afternoon, 14% fewer than live here.
0.64 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.
Where the trip to work from Yonkers ends
Where Yonkers clocks in
46% of workers
5% of workers
3% 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.
What Yonkers’ employers do
51,485 jobs are based in Yonkers.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Yonkers, 2013 → 2023: 49,607 → 51,485. 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 Yonkers’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Yonkers: about 36 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Yonkers workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 88,641 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.
Miles to work from Yonkers
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.
Yonkers is among the most walkable U.S. towns
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Yonkers is among the most walkable U.S. towns, #40 of 758 in New York. Both inputs place Yonkers near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 100,256 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 99% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 67% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 40.9 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, among the most 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). 23.7% of Yonkers households have no vehicle (New York 29.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 26% of Yonkers’ commuters take a bus or train.
These are town averages; neighborhoods differ.
62nd of 123: where Yonkers ranks among U.S. towns of 149,000 to 287,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Hempstead NY | 238,982 | $158K | 4.5% | 4.1% | 20% | A |
| 2 | Frisco TX | 236,955 | $150K | 3.6% | 4.6% | 14% | A |
| 3 | Olathe KS | 150,025 | $114K | 5.6% | 2.7% | 26% | A |
| 4 | Huntington NY | 205,891 | $168K | 5.0% | 4.3% | 23% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 16 | Babylon NY | 219,766 | $128K | 6.1% | 4.8% | 21% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 60 | Glendale CA | 187,160 | $88K | 12.9% | 8.3% | 20% | B− |
| 61 | Mesquite TX | 150,693 | $73K | 13.4% | 5.4% | 12% | B− |
| 62 | Yonkers NY | 212,603 | $84K | 13.8% | 7.1% | 18% | B− |
| 63 | Denton TX | 169,431 | $76K | 15.8% | 5.1% | 28% | B− |
| 64 | Reno NV | 283,621 | $81K | 12.6% | 5.1% | 63% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 123 | Macon-Bibb County GA | 157,556 | $51K | 24.7% | 8.1% | 53% | 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 Yonkers, the top three, the last and three more from New York.
Next door is work for 55% of Yonkers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Yonkers workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yonkers | – | B− | A+ | 36 min | $83,549 |
| Eastchester | 2% | A+ | A+ | 36 min | $155,726 |
| Mount Vernon | 2% | B− | A+ | 35 min | $78,779 |
| New York | 46% | B− | A+ | 40 min | $80,483 |
| Bronxville | under 2% | A+ | A+ | 41 min | $215,815 |
| Tuckahoe | under 2% | A+ | A+ | 37 min | $104,375 |
| Greenburgh | 5% | A | A+ | 34 min | $152,256 |
| Greenville | under 2% | — | — | 45 min | — |
| Hastings-on-Hudson | under 2% | A+ | A+ | 41 min | $193,621 |
Same-state neighbors only. Greenville: a Census-designated place inside a larger town, graded as part of it. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to New York. Darker towns draw more of Yonkers’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 Yonkers: questions
What is the median household income in Yonkers?
$83,549 (±$3,929) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $85,974 across New York and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Yonkers?
13.8%, against 14.0% across New York and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Yonkers?
36 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 Yonkers work?
18% work in town.
Is Yonkers walkable?
Yonkers is among the most walkable U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 13.9 out of 20, and 31% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Yonkers without a car?
26% of commuters take transit and 24% of households have no car. 67% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Yonkers, from the people who make the trip.
More of Yonkers
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.