These Counties Are the Top Drivers of Out-of-State Commuters into the Capital Region

The leading sources of out-of-state commuters who work in the Capital Region are Berkshire, Bennington and Rutland counties. But beyond these neighboring counties, Orange County Florida and San Diego County, California are the next leading sources of out-of-state commuters, according to a Center for Economic Growth analysis of U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2016-2020 Commuting Flows.

Other State Commuters

Between 2016 and 2020, the region averaged 7,129 workers with out-of-state residences and workplaces within the eight counties. Three states accounted for half of those commuting flows: Massachusetts (1,650), Vermont (1,242), and New Jersey (731). Other states with high numbers of commuting flows into the Capital Region were Florida (621), Connecticut (316) and Pennsylvania (309). These interstate commuters do not reflect people who work from home outside New York. In the Census Bureau survey, those WFH workers’ commuting flows are placed in their counties of residence.   

Out-of-State Counties

Among individual out-of-state counties, Berkshire County had the most commuting flows into the region at 1,081. Almost two-thirds of those Berkshire County residents had workplaces in Columbia (409) and Rensselaer (268) counties.

Nearly three quarters of the Bennington County commuting flows went to Rensselaer (216), Albany (138) and Warren (115) counties. More than three quarters of the Rutland County commuting flows went to Washington (301) and Warren (92) counties. Schenectady County was the top workplace for the Orange County and San Diego County commuters, accounting for 70.9 percent and 89.0 percent of their commuting inflows, respectively.

CEG Initiatives

As a regional economic development organization, CEG has worked to create a more integrated and dynamic eight-county Capital Region by leading industry and attraction efforts centered around the Capital Region’s core technology clusters. These clusters – clean energy, digital gaming, semiconductors, R&D and life sciences – are primarily centered in the region’s central counties and attract thousands of intra- and inter-county commuters. CEG’s industry and Talent attraction initiatives representing the Capital Region at industry conferences, such as SEMICON West and the CapNY  regional branding campaign.

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