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Work & commute in Sound Beach · A commuter town

98% of Sound Beach’s working residents leave town for work

Most working residents leave Sound Beach for work: only 2% work in town. The top destinations are Brookhaven (37%), New York (16%) and Islip (12%). Half commute less than 16 miles.

Work in town
2%
68 of 3,358 working residents
Typical commute
16 mi
half travel less, straight-line
Time each way
32 min
Less than NY (33 min)
Work from home
10%
Less than NY (15%)
Jobs based here
195
A commuter town

What kind of work town is Sound Beach?

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

★ What stands out · The commute map

37% 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.

StamfordGarfieldMount VernonNew York: 536 residents work here (16%)Babylon: 88 residents work here (3%)Riverhead: 122 residents work here (4%)Hempstead: 105 residents work here (3%)North Hempstead: 65 residents work here (2%)Brookhaven: 1,237 residents work here (37%)Islip: 407 residents work here (12%)Smithtown: 238 residents work here (7%)Huntington: 134 residents work here (4%)SouthamptonOyster Bay: 70 residents work here (2%)Sound BeachMiller PlaceRocky PointBrookhavenNew YorkIslipSmithtownHuntingtonRiverheadSound Beach
1
Brookhaven7.3 mi away
37%1,237
2
New York54.7 mi away
16%536
3
Islip20.7 mi away
12%407
4
Smithtown11.2 mi away
7%238
5
Huntington21.9 mi away
4%134
6
Riverhead13.4 mi away
4%122
7
Hempstead40.4 mi away
3%105
8
Babylon28.7 mi away
3%88
9
Oyster Bay30.3 mi away
2%70
10
North Hempstead38.6 mi away
2%65
Everywhere elseother towns and states
11%356
The top trips

Where Sound Beach clocks in

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

Day and night

Sound Beach quiets down on a workday

On a workday 3,290 residents head out to work, 68 work right here, and 127 people come in from elsewhere.

3,290live here, work elsewhere
68live and work here
127work here, live elsewhere
Night and day
At night7,200
Workday4,000
7,200live here− 3,300head out to work+ 130come in to work= 4,000on a workday

About 4,000 people are in Sound Beach on a workday afternoon, 44% fewer than live here.

Job hub or commuter town?
0.06jobs per workerCommuter townJob hub

0.06 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 Sound Beach commutes less than 16 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 mi65 miBrookhaven: 37% · 7.3 miNew York: 16% · 54.7 miIslip: 12% · 20.7 miSmithtown: 7% · 11.2 miHuntington: 4% · 21.9 miRiverhead: 4% · 13.4 miHempstead: 3% · 40.4 miBabylon: 3% · 28.7 miOyster Bay: 2% · 30.3 miNorth Hempstead: 2% · 38.6 miBrookhaven 37%New York 16%Islip 12%Smithtown 7%Huntington 4%Sound Beach
Sound BeachTop destinations (size = commuters)
31%Under 10 mi1,040 residents
32%10–24 mi1,090 residents
18%25–50 mi605 residents
19%Over 50 mi622 residents

About 19% 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.

The jobs

What the 195 jobs in Sound Beach are

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

Jobs based in Sound BeachJobs Sound Beach residents hold

What kind of work

Goods: factories, building, farms18%11%
Trade, transport & utilities32%18%
Services: health, schools, offices49%71%

What it pays

$1,250 a month or less23%11%
$1,251–$3,333 a month28%18%
Over $3,333 a month49%70%

Who does it

29 or younger14%19%
30 to 5456%52%
55 and older30%29%
+0%

Jobs based in Sound Beach, 2013 → 2023: 195 → 195. 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 32 minutes each way, about the NY average

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

A year of commuting
245 hours

Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.2 full days in the car, bus or train.

Average commute minutes, one way

Sound Beach32 min
New York33 min
U.S.26 min
Working from home
10%

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

About 1 in 10
Next door

Sound Beach and the towns next door

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

10%+5–9%2–4%1%Under 1%

Average commute minutes, one way

Sound Beach32 min
Miller Place33 min
Rocky Point36 min
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 Sound Beach

Sound Beach home →

Commuter talk

Getting to work from Sound Beach, from the people who make the trip.

Town Square →
Weigh in
Is the commute from Sound Beach worth it?

Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.

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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