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Work & commute in Mastic Beach · A commuter town

96% of Mastic Beach’s working residents leave town for work

Most working residents leave Mastic Beach for work: only 4% work in town. The top destinations are Brookhaven (33%), New York (16%) and Islip (13%). Half commute less than 19 miles.

Work in town
4%
233 of 6,335 working residents
Typical commute
19 mi
half travel less, straight-line
Time each way
37 min
More than NY (33 min)
Work from home
7%
Less than NY (15%)
Jobs based here
1,831
A commuter town

What kind of work town is Mastic Beach?

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

★ What stands out · The commute map

33% of working residents work in Brookhaven

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

New York: 982 residents work here (16%)Babylon: 185 residents work here (3%)Riverhead: 278 residents work here (4%)Hempstead: 243 residents work here (4%)Brookhaven: 2,117 residents work here (33%)Islip: 837 residents work here (13%)Smithtown: 297 residents work here (5%)Huntington: 196 residents work here (3%)Southampton: 328 residents work here (5%)Oyster Bay: 185 residents work here (3%)Mastic BeachShirleyBrookhavenNew YorkIslipSouthamptonSmithtownRiverheadMastic Beach
1
Brookhaven9 mi away
33%2,117
2
New York58.1 mi away
16%982
3
Islip19.2 mi away
13%837
4
Southampton21.2 mi away
5%328
5
Smithtown20.7 mi away
5%297
6
Riverhead15.7 mi away
4%278
7
Hempstead41.5 mi away
4%243
8
Huntington29.4 mi away
3%196
9
Babylon26.6 mi away
3%185
10
Oyster Bay35.3 mi away
3%185
Everywhere elseother towns and states
11%687
The top trips

Where Mastic Beach clocks in

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

The jobs

Mostly services: health care, schools and offices

1,831 jobs are based in Mastic Beach. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Mastic Beach’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Mastic BeachJobs Mastic Beach residents hold

What kind of work

Goods: factories, building, farms6%15%
Trade, transport & utilities4%23%
Services: health, schools, offices90%63%

What it pays

$1,250 a month or less8%11%
$1,251–$3,333 a month22%24%
Over $3,333 a month70%65%

Who does it

29 or younger15%22%
30 to 5461%53%
55 and older25%25%
+14%

Jobs based in Mastic Beach, 2013 → 2023: 1,608 → 1,831. 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.

Day and night

Mastic Beach quiets down on a workday

On a workday 6,102 residents head out to work, 233 work right here, and 1,598 people come in from elsewhere.

6,102live here, work elsewhere
233live and work here
1,598work here, live elsewhere
Night and day
At night17,000
Workday12,000
17,000live here− 6,100head out to work+ 1,600come in to work= 12,000on a workday

About 12,000 people are in Mastic Beach on a workday afternoon, 27% fewer than live here.

Job hub or commuter town?
0.29jobs per workerCommuter townJob hub

0.29 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 Mastic Beach 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.

10 mi25 mi50 mi70 miBrookhaven: 33% · 9 miNew York: 16% · 58.1 miIslip: 13% · 19.2 miSouthampton: 5% · 21.2 miSmithtown: 5% · 20.7 miRiverhead: 4% · 15.7 miHempstead: 4% · 41.5 miHuntington: 3% · 29.4 miBabylon: 3% · 26.6 miOyster Bay: 3% · 35.3 miBrookhaven 33%New York 16%Islip 13%Southampton 5%Smithtown 5%Mastic Beach
Mastic BeachTop destinations (size = commuters)
25%Under 10 mi1,572 residents
36%10–24 mi2,263 residents
18%25–50 mi1,146 residents
21%Over 50 mi1,350 residents

About 21% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.

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

Time on the road

About 37 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
282 hours

Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11.8 full days in the car, bus or train.

Average commute minutes, one way

Mastic Beach37 min
New York33 min
U.S.26 min
Working from home
7%

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

About 1 in 10
Next door

Mastic Beach and the towns next door

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

Shirley: few work hereShirleyMastic Beach
10%+5–9%2–4%1%Under 1%
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 Mastic Beach

Mastic Beach home →

Commuter talk

Getting to work from Mastic Beach, 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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