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Work & commute in Great River · Balanced

98% of Great River’s working residents leave town for work

Most working residents leave Great River for work: only 2% work in town. The top destinations are Islip (29%), New York (20%) and Babylon (8%). Half commute less than 14 miles.

Work in town
2%
16 of 970 working residents
Typical commute
14 mi
half travel less, straight-line
Time each way
31 min
Less than NY (33 min)
Work from home
13%
Less than NY (15%)
Jobs based here
1,074
Balanced

What kind of work town is Great River?

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

★ What stands out · Next door

37% of Great River works in a bordering town

The biggest share goes to Islip (29%). Darker towns draw more of Great River’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.

Day and night

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 954 residents head out to work, 16 work right here, and 1,058 people come in from elsewhere.

954live here, work elsewhere
16live and work here
1,058work here, live elsewhere
Night and day
At night1,900
Workday2,000
1,900live here− 950head out to work+ 1,100come in to work= 2,000on 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?
1.11jobs per workerCommuter townJob hub

About as many jobs as working residents (1.11 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

29% 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.

Albany: 4 residents work here (0%)New York: 191 residents work here (20%)Babylon: 80 residents work here (8%)RiverheadHempstead: 64 residents work here (7%)North Hempstead: 31 residents work here (3%)Brookhaven: 73 residents work here (8%)Islip: 281 residents work here (29%)Smithtown: 35 residents work here (4%)Huntington: 79 residents work here (8%)Oyster Bay: 57 residents work here (6%)North Great RiverOakdaleEast IslipGreat RiverIslipNew YorkBabylonHuntingtonBrookhavenHempsteadGreat River
1
Islip2.2 mi away
29%281
2
New York41.2 mi away
20%191
3
Babylon9.9 mi away
8%80
4
Huntington16.5 mi away
8%79
5
Brookhaven14.2 mi away
8%73
6
Hempstead24.5 mi away
7%64
7
Oyster Bay19.6 mi away
6%57
8
Smithtown14.2 mi away
4%35
9
North Hempstead28.1 mi away
3%31
10
Albany138.9 mi away
0%4
Everywhere elseother towns and states
8%75
The top trips

Where Great River 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 Great River commutes less than 14 miles

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

10 mi25 mi50 mi80 miIslip: 29% · 2.2 miNew York: 20% · 41.2 miBabylon: 8% · 9.9 miHuntington: 8% · 16.5 miBrookhaven: 8% · 14.2 miHempstead: 7% · 24.5 miOyster Bay: 6% · 19.6 miSmithtown: 4% · 14.2 miNorth Hempstead: 3% · 28.1 miAlbany: 0% · 138.9 miIslip 29%Babylon 8%Huntington 8%Brookhaven 8%Great River
Great RiverTop destinations (size = commuters)
39%Under 10 mi382 residents
28%10–24 mi274 residents
27%25–50 mi263 residents
5%Over 50 mi51 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

1,074 jobs are based in Great River. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Great River’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Great RiverJobs Great River residents hold

What kind of work

Goods: factories, building, farms5%12%
Trade, transport & utilities2%17%
Services: health, schools, offices93%71%

What it pays

$1,250 a month or less13%10%
$1,251–$3,333 a month20%17%
Over $3,333 a month67%73%

Who does it

29 or younger26%19%
30 to 5450%44%
55 and older24%37%
+8%

Jobs based in Great River, 2013 → 2023: 990 → 1,074. 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 31 minutes each way, about the NY average

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

A year of commuting
240 hours

Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10 full days in the car, bus or train.

Average commute minutes, one way

Great River31 min
New York33 min
U.S.26 min
Working from home
13%

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

About 1 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 Great River

Great River home →

Commuter talk

Getting to work from Great River, from the people who make the trip.

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

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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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