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Work & commute in St. James · A commuter town

94% of St. James’s working residents leave town for work

Most working residents leave St. James for work: only 6% work in town. The top destinations are New York (21%), Smithtown (20%) and Islip (13%). Half commute less than 15 miles.

Work in town
6%
396 of 6,638 working residents
Typical commute
15 mi
half travel less, straight-line
Time each way
29 min
Less than NY (33 min)
Work from home
11%
Less than NY (15%)
Jobs based here
4,373
A commuter town

What kind of work town is St. James?

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

★ What stands out · The commute map

21% of working residents work in New York

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

Village of the BranchLake GroveHead of the HarborNew York: 1,382 residents work here (21%)Babylon: 237 residents work here (4%)Riverhead: 36 residents work here (1%)Hempstead: 341 residents work here (5%)North Hempstead: 247 residents work here (4%)Brookhaven: 795 residents work here (12%)Islip: 872 residents work here (13%)Smithtown: 1,299 residents work here (20%)Huntington: 501 residents work here (8%)SouthamptonOyster Bay: 368 residents work here (6%)NesconsetSt. JamesStony BrookNew YorkSmithtownIslipBrookhavenHuntingtonOyster BaySt. James
1
New York43.7 mi away
21%1,382
2
Smithtown3.2 mi away
20%1,299
3
Islip11.3 mi away
13%872
4
Brookhaven10.1 mi away
12%795
5
Huntington11.7 mi away
8%501
6
Oyster Bay19.5 mi away
6%368
7
Hempstead29.2 mi away
5%341
8
North Hempstead28 mi away
4%247
9
Babylon18.4 mi away
4%237
10
Riverhead23.8 mi away
1%36
Everywhere elseother towns and states
8%560
The top trips

Where St. James clocks in

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

The jobs

What the 4,373 jobs in St. James are

4,373 jobs are based in St. James. Here is what they are, next to the jobs St. James’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in St. JamesJobs St. James residents hold

What kind of work

Goods: factories, building, farms8%10%
Trade, transport & utilities33%16%
Services: health, schools, offices59%73%

What it pays

$1,250 a month or less16%11%
$1,251–$3,333 a month28%19%
Over $3,333 a month56%70%

Who does it

29 or younger25%20%
30 to 5445%49%
55 and older30%32%
+45%

Jobs based in St. James, 2013 → 2023: 3,011 → 4,373. 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.

Next door

32% of St. James works in a bordering town

The biggest share goes to Smithtown (20%). Darker towns draw more of St. James’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.

Day and night

St. James quiets down on a workday

On a workday 6,242 residents head out to work, 396 work right here, and 3,977 people come in from elsewhere.

6,242live here, work elsewhere
396live and work here
3,977work here, live elsewhere
Night and day
At night13,000
Workday11,000
13,000live here− 6,200head out to work+ 4,000come in to work= 11,000on a workday

About 11,000 people are in St. James on a workday afternoon, 17% fewer than live here.

Job hub or commuter town?
0.66jobs per workerCommuter townJob hub

0.66 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 St. James commutes less than 15 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 miNew York: 21% · 43.7 miSmithtown: 20% · 3.2 miIslip: 13% · 11.3 miBrookhaven: 12% · 10.1 miHuntington: 8% · 11.7 miOyster Bay: 6% · 19.5 miHempstead: 5% · 29.2 miNorth Hempstead: 4% · 28 miBabylon: 4% · 18.4 miRiverhead: 1% · 23.8 miNew York 21%Smithtown 20%Islip 13%Brookhaven 12%Huntington 8%St. James
St. JamesTop destinations (size = commuters)
42%Under 10 mi2,775 residents
22%10–24 mi1,460 residents
30%25–50 mi2,020 residents
6%Over 50 mi379 residents

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

Time on the road

About 29 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
225 hours

Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.4 full days in the car, bus or train.

Average commute minutes, one way

St. James29 min
New York33 min
U.S.26 min
Working from home
11%

of St. James 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 St. James

St. James home →

Commuter talk

Getting to work from St. James, from the people who make the trip.

Town Square →
Weigh in
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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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