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Work & commute in Preakness · Balanced

93% of Preakness’s working residents leave town for work

Most working residents leave Preakness for work: only 7% work in town. The top destinations are Wayne (12%), New York (10%) and Paterson (5%). Half commute less than 11 miles.

Work in town
7%
672 of 9,196 working residents
Typical commute
11 mi
half travel less, straight-line
Time each way
30 min
Less than NJ (31 min)
Work from home
17%
More than NJ (17%)
Jobs based here
8,666
Balanced

What kind of work town is Preakness?

Read from the numbers below. The page puts what stands out first.

★ What stands out · Next door

12% of Preakness works in a bordering town

The biggest share goes to Wayne (12%). Darker towns draw more of Preakness’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.

Day and night

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 8,524 residents head out to work, 672 work right here, and 7,994 people come in from elsewhere.

8,524live here, work elsewhere
672live and work here
7,994work here, live elsewhere
Night and day
At night19,000
Workday18,000
19,000live here− 8,500head out to work+ 8,000come in to work= 18,000on a workday

About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.

Job hub or commuter town?
0.94jobs per workerCommuter townJob hub

About as many jobs as working residents (0.94 per resident).

Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.

The commute map

12% of working residents work in Wayne

A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.

HaledonPompton LakesTotowaHackensack: 154 residents work here (2%)Lincoln ParkPaterson: 465 residents work here (5%)Clifton: 259 residents work here (3%)Paramus: 172 residents work here (2%)Jersey City: 159 residents work here (2%)Newark: 279 residents work here (3%)New York: 947 residents work here (10%)Wayne: 1,076 residents work here (12%)PequannockFairfield: 155 residents work here (2%)West MilfordParsippany-Troy Hills: 231 residents work here (3%)William Paterson University of New JerseyPackanack LakePreaknessWayneNew YorkPatersonNewarkCliftonParsippany-Troy HillsPreakness
1
Wayne1.2 mi away
12%1,076
2
New York, NY24.2 mi away
10%947
3
Paterson3.6 mi away
5%465
4
Newark15 mi away
3%279
5
Clifton6.2 mi away
3%259
63%231
7
Paramus8.1 mi away
2%172
8
Jersey City17.8 mi away
2%159
9
Fairfield5.7 mi away
2%155
10
Hackensack9.9 mi away
2%154
Everywhere elseother towns and states
58%5,299
The top trips

Where Preakness clocks in

Lines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.

How far

Half of Preakness commutes less than 11 miles

Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

10 mi25 mi30 miWayne: 12% · 1.2 miNew York: 10% · 24.2 miPaterson: 5% · 3.6 miNewark: 3% · 15 miClifton: 3% · 6.2 miParsippany-Troy Hills: 3% · 11.7 miParamus: 2% · 8.1 miJersey City: 2% · 17.8 miFairfield: 2% · 5.7 miHackensack: 2% · 9.9 miWayne 12%New York 10%Paterson 5%Newark 3%Clifton 3%Preakness
PreaknessTop destinations (size = commuters)
45%Under 10 mi4,166 residents
39%10–24 mi3,593 residents
11%25–50 mi982 residents
5%Over 50 mi448 residents

Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.

The jobs

Mostly services: health care, schools and offices

8,666 jobs are based in Preakness. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Preakness’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in PreaknessJobs Preakness residents hold

What kind of work

Goods: factories, building, farms6%11%
Trade, transport & utilities13%19%
Services: health, schools, offices81%70%

What it pays

$1,250 a month or less18%11%
$1,251–$3,333 a month25%18%
Over $3,333 a month57%71%

Who does it

29 or younger25%19%
30 to 5448%51%
55 and older27%30%
+2%

Jobs based in Preakness, 2013 → 2023: 8,536 → 8,666. 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.

Time on the road

About 30 minutes each way, about the NJ average

From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.

A year of commuting
228 hours

Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.5 full days in the car, bus or train.

Average commute minutes, one way

Preakness30 min
New Jersey31 min
U.S.26 min
Working from home
17%

of Preakness workers work from home, vs 17% across New Jersey. Their commute is the hallway.

About 2 in 10
How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

  • Every worker, home to work. The Census links each worker’s home block to their main job’s block, for jobs covered by unemployment insurance. That’s most jobs, but not the self-employed.
  • Where the employer says. A job counts where the employer reports it. Some big employers report one address for many sites, which can make a few commutes look longer than they are.
  • Two surveys. Flows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: the Census American Community Survey.
  • Straight lines. Distances are as the crow flies between home and work. Roads, rivers and traffic make the real trip longer.
Beyond the commute

More of Preakness

Preakness home →

Commuter talk

Getting to work from Preakness, from the people who make the trip.

Town Square →
Weigh in
Is the commute from Preakness worth it?

Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.

Ask neighbors

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.

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