98% of Fire Island’s working residents leave town for work
Most working residents leave Fire Island for work: only 2% work in town. The top destinations are Islip (28%), New York (19%) and Brookhaven (13%). Half commute less than 19 miles.
What kind of work town is Fire Island?
Read from the numbers below. The page puts what stands out first.
28% of working residents work in Islip
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Fire Island clocks in
28% of workers
19% of workers
13% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
15% of Fire Island works in a bordering town
The biggest share goes to Brookhaven (13%). Darker towns draw more of Fire Island’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
Average commute minutes, one way
About 39 minutes each way, longer than most of New York
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 12.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fire Island workers work from home, vs 15% across New York. Their commute is the hallway.
Fire Island quiets down on a workday
On a workday 347 residents head out to work, 7 work right here, and 260 people come in from elsewhere.
About 270 people are in Fire Island on a workday afternoon, 25% fewer than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.75 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.
Half of Fire Island commutes less than 19 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
66% of the jobs in Fire Island pay over $3,333 a month
267 jobs are based in Fire Island. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Fire Island’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fire Island, 2013 → 2023: 415 → 267. 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.
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.
More of Fire Island
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Fire Island, from the people who make the trip.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
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.