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Work & commute in East Meadow · A commuter town

93% of East Meadow’s working residents leave town for work

Most working residents leave East Meadow for work: only 7% work in town. The top destinations are New York (34%), Hempstead (26%) and North Hempstead (11%). Half commute less than 10 miles.

Work in town
7%
1,204 of 18,216 working residents
Typical commute
10 mi
half travel less, straight-line
Time each way
35 min
More than NY (33 min)
Work from home
15%
Same than NY (15%)
Jobs based here
10,496
A commuter town

What kind of work town is East Meadow?

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

★ What stands out · The commute map

34% of working residents work in New York

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

Long BeachWestburyGlen Cove: 66 residents work here (0%)New York: 6,211 residents work here (34%)Babylon: 622 residents work here (3%)Hempstead: 4,727 residents work here (26%)North Hempstead: 1,980 residents work here (11%)Brookhaven: 254 residents work here (1%)Islip: 524 residents work here (3%)Smithtown: 196 residents work here (1%)Huntington: 601 residents work here (3%)Oyster Bay: 1,604 residents work here (9%)SalisburyNorth MerrickNorth WantaghNorth BellmoreUniondaleEast MeadowLevittownNew YorkHempsteadNorth HempsteadOyster BayBabylonHuntingtonEast Meadow
1
New York20.3 mi away
34%6,211
2
Hempstead6.5 mi away
26%4,727
3
North Hempstead8.5 mi away
11%1,980
4
Oyster Bay6.1 mi away
9%1,604
5
Babylon13.8 mi away
3%622
6
Huntington14.8 mi away
3%601
7
Islip18.9 mi away
3%524
8
Brookhaven32.7 mi away
1%254
9
Smithtown24.2 mi away
1%196
10
Glen Cove12.2 mi away
0%66
Everywhere elseother towns and states
8%1,431
The top trips

Where East Meadow clocks in

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

Day and night

East Meadow quiets down on a workday

On a workday 17,012 residents head out to work, 1,204 work right here, and 9,292 people come in from elsewhere.

17,012live here, work elsewhere
1,204live and work here
9,292work here, live elsewhere
Night and day
At night37,000
Workday29,000
37,000live here− 17,000head out to work+ 9,300come in to work= 29,000on a workday

About 29,000 people are in East Meadow on a workday afternoon, 21% fewer than live here.

Job hub or commuter town?
0.58jobs per workerCommuter townJob hub

0.58 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.

How far

Half of East Meadow commutes less than 10 miles

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

10 mi25 mi40 miNew York: 34% · 20.3 miHempstead: 26% · 6.5 miNorth Hempstead: 11% · 8.5 miOyster Bay: 9% · 6.1 miBabylon: 3% · 13.8 miHuntington: 3% · 14.8 miIslip: 3% · 18.9 miBrookhaven: 1% · 32.7 miSmithtown: 1% · 24.2 miGlen Cove: 0% · 12.2 miHempstead 26%North Hempstead 11%Oyster Bay 9%Babylon 3%East Meadow
East MeadowTop destinations (size = commuters)
50%Under 10 mi9,054 residents
42%10–24 mi7,567 residents
5%25–50 mi880 residents
4%Over 50 mi697 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

10,496 jobs are based in East Meadow. Here is what they are, next to the jobs East Meadow’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in East MeadowJobs East Meadow residents hold

What kind of work

Goods: factories, building, farms4%8%
Trade, transport & utilities14%18%
Services: health, schools, offices81%74%

What it pays

$1,250 a month or less13%12%
$1,251–$3,333 a month24%20%
Over $3,333 a month63%68%

Who does it

29 or younger22%19%
30 to 5450%53%
55 and older29%28%
−17%

Jobs based in East Meadow, 2013 → 2023: 12,636 → 10,496. 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 35 minutes each way, longer than most of New York

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

A year of commuting
268 hours

Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11.2 full days in the car, bus or train.

Average commute minutes, one way

East Meadow35 min
New York33 min
U.S.26 min
Working from home
15%

of East Meadow workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.

About 1 in 10
Next door

East Meadow and the towns next door

Darker towns draw more of East Meadow’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.

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 East Meadow

East Meadow home →

Commuter talk

Getting to work from East Meadow, from the people who make the trip.

Town Square →
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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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