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Work & commute in Northeast Ithaca · A commuter town

98% of Northeast Ithaca’s working residents leave town for work

Most working residents leave Northeast Ithaca for work: only 2% work in town. The top destinations are Ithaca (40%), Ithaca (16%) and Lansing (8%). Half commute less than 4 miles.

Work in town
2%
17 of 1,044 working residents
Typical commute
4 mi
half travel less, straight-line
Time each way
15 min
Less than NY (33 min)
Work from home
35%
More than NY (15%)
Jobs based here
664
A commuter town

What kind of work town is Northeast Ithaca?

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

★ What stands out · Time on the road

About 15 minutes each way, quicker than most of New York

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

A year of commuting
114 hours

Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.8 full days in the car, bus or train.

Average commute minutes, one way

Northeast Ithaca15 min
New York33 min
U.S.26 min
Working from home
35%

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

About 4 in 10
Next door

51% of Northeast Ithaca works in a bordering town

The biggest share goes to Ithaca (40%). Darker towns draw more of Northeast Ithaca’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.

The commute map

40% of working residents work in Ithaca

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

Cayuga HeightsCortland: 10 residents work here (1%)LansingIthaca: 169 residents work here (16%)Elmira: 11 residents work here (1%)Syracuse: 14 residents work here (1%)Albany: 12 residents work here (1%)New York: 37 residents work here (4%)CarolineGrotonLansing: 87 residents work here (8%)Dryden: 32 residents work here (3%)NewfieldUlyssesDanbyIthaca: 422 residents work here (40%)Onondaga: 12 residents work here (1%)Northeast IthacaIthacaIthacaLansingNew YorkDrydenSyracuseNortheast Ithaca
1
Ithaca5.4 mi away
40%422
2
Ithaca2.6 mi away
16%169
3
Lansing7.6 mi away
8%87
4
New York180.5 mi away
4%37
5
Dryden5.2 mi away
3%32
6
Syracuse42.8 mi away
1%14
7
Albany136.3 mi away
1%12
8
Onondaga37.4 mi away
1%12
9
Elmira31.4 mi away
1%11
10
Cortland17.1 mi away
1%10
Everywhere elseother towns and states
23%238
The top trips

Where Northeast Ithaca 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

664 jobs are based in Northeast Ithaca. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Northeast Ithaca’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Northeast IthacaJobs Northeast Ithaca residents hold

What kind of work

Goods: factories, building, farms0%6%
Trade, transport & utilities1%10%
Services: health, schools, offices99%85%

What it pays

$1,250 a month or less9%13%
$1,251–$3,333 a month23%20%
Over $3,333 a month67%68%

Who does it

29 or younger16%23%
30 to 5453%54%
55 and older31%23%
+186%

Jobs based in Northeast Ithaca, 2013 → 2023: 232 → 664. 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.

How far

Half of Northeast Ithaca commutes less than 4 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 miIthaca: 40% · 5.4 miIthaca: 16% · 2.6 miLansing: 8% · 7.6 miNew York: 4% · 180.5 miDryden: 3% · 5.2 miSyracuse: 1% · 42.8 miAlbany: 1% · 136.3 miOnondaga: 1% · 37.4 miElmira: 1% · 31.4 miCortland: 1% · 17.1 miIthaca 40%Ithaca 16%Lansing 8%New York 4%Dryden 3%Northeast Ithaca
Northeast IthacaTop destinations (size = commuters)
69%Under 10 mi721 residents
3%10–24 mi35 residents
10%25–50 mi106 residents
17%Over 50 mi182 residents

About 17% 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.

Day and night

Northeast Ithaca quiets down on a workday

On a workday 1,027 residents head out to work, 17 work right here, and 647 people come in from elsewhere.

1,027live here, work elsewhere
17live and work here
647work here, live elsewhere
Night and day
At night2,700
Workday2,300
2,700live here− 1,000head out to work+ 650come in to work= 2,300on a workday

About 2,300 people are in Northeast Ithaca on a workday afternoon, 14% fewer than live here.

Job hub or commuter town?
0.64jobs per workerCommuter townJob hub

0.64 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 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 Northeast Ithaca

Northeast Ithaca home →

Commuter talk

Getting to work from Northeast Ithaca, from the people who make the trip.

Town Square →
Weigh in
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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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