Commutersheds · The Northeast

Click a name to see its watershed, zoom in for its tributaries

Every census tract runs into the town that takes the most of its workers. Each town then runs into the bigger place that takes the most of its workers, and so on, until it reaches a place nothing bigger pulls on. That place is a sea, and everything that reaches it is its basin.

A commuter town always flows on. A job centre (at least 4 jobs for every 5 resident workers) only flows on if at least 5% of its workers go that way; below that it keeps its own flow, like a lake with no outlet. Rivers are routed over a 2 km grid and merge where their paths meet. River width is the number of workers carried.

Workers

23.7M

Seas

165

Largest basins

LEHD LODES 2023, primary jobs, by home and work census block. Residents of NY, NJ, CT, PA, MA, VT, RI and DE; their jobs in those states and in OH, MD, WV, NH, ME, DC and VA are counted. LODES places a job where the employer reports it, which is not always where the person goes.