Photo: Vaultguy999 · CC BY-SA 4.0Brooklyn draws 11,947 commuters a day, with 2.2 jobs for every working resident
Jobs and income earn Brooklyn B+; getting around on foot earns it A. Employers in Brooklyn report 12,250 jobs for 5,446 working residents. Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 3.8 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 11.7 in Cleveland.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Brooklyn
Brooklyn is where the jobs are
Brooklyn has 12,250 jobs, 2.3 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 18,000 people are in town, 61% more than the 11,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
Brooklyn and Cleveland trade workers both ways
Cleveland is the top workplace for Brooklyn residents (35%) and also where the most people who work in Brooklyn come from (18% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Most Brooklyn residents work close to home
66% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. How far ↓
Brooklyn draws workers from far and wide
The 12,250 jobs in Brooklyn are filled from a wide area. The ten biggest home towns of its workers supply 38%; the other 60% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
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.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Brooklyn
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Brooklyn is better than 68% of U.S. towns, #399 of 992 in Ohio. Job access by car holds Brooklyn’s grade up (ahead of 93% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($69,346, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Brooklyn could be anywhere from B− to A.
Brooklyn on a workday afternoon
On a workday 5,143 residents head out to work and 303 work right here.
About 18,000 people are in Brooklyn on a workday afternoon, 61% more 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.
Where the people who work in Brooklyn live
Where Brooklyn clocks in
35% 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.
Miles to work from Brooklyn
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.
What Brooklyn’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Brooklyn, 2013 → 2023: 13,292 → 12,250. 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 Brooklyn’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Brooklyn’s commute takes about 21 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Brooklyn workers work from home, vs 13% across Ohio. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,129 commuters (the 11% who work from home are left out). Across Ohio: 86% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
In Brooklyn, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Brooklyn is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns, #29 of 993 in Ohio. Both inputs place Brooklyn 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 5,785 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 70% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 18% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 3.8 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 80% 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). 8.3% of Brooklyn households have no vehicle (Ohio 7.5%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of Brooklyn’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Brooklyn is 1,081st of 2,507 U.S. towns of 8,000 to 15,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| 4 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| 5 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 10 | Jerome Township OH | 11,237 | $176K | 0.4% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,079 | Emmett Township MI | 11,712 | $79K | 10.0% | 2.5% | 10% | B+ |
| 1,080 | Bridgeton MO | 11,277 | $72K | 11.5% | 3.2% | 7% | B+ |
| 1,081 | Brooklyn OH | 11,072 | $69K | 9.1% | 3.6% | 6% | B+ |
| 1,082 | Fort Russell Township IL | 9,158 | $73K | 7.6% | 3.3% | 3% | B+ |
| 1,083 | Bath Township MI | 13,556 | $76K | 17.4% | 4.2% | 5% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,507 | Roma TX | 11,543 | $25K | 37.1% | 12.4% | 22% | 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 Brooklyn, the top three, the last and three more from Ohio.
35% of Brooklyn works in a bordering town
Jobs & commute next door
The biggest share goes to Cleveland. Darker towns draw more of Brooklyn’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 Brooklyn: questions
What is the median household income in Brooklyn?
$69,346 (±$6,898) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $71,389 across Ohio and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Brooklyn?
9.1%, against 13.3% across Ohio and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Brooklyn?
21 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Ohio and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Brooklyn work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Cleveland (35%, 5 mi), Parma (5%, 4 mi), Middleburg Heights (3%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Brooklyn walkable?
Brooklyn is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 11.2 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Brooklyn without a car?
3% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. 18% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Brooklyn, from the people who make the trip.
More of Brooklyn
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.