Cato is a tiny village located in the state of New York. With a population of 537 people and two associated neighborhoods, Cato is the 877th largest community in New York. Much of the housing stock in Cato was built prior to World War II, making it one of the older and more historic villages in the country.Unlike some villages where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Cato is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Cato is a village of sales and office workers, professionals, and service providers. There are especially a lot of people living in Cato who work in sales jobs (16.34%), office and administrative support (11.88%), and teaching (9.41%). Telecommuters are a relatively large percentage of the workforce: 11.39% of people work from home. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce it is high relative to the nation. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes. Overall, Cato’s crime rate is one of the lowest in the nation, which makes a great place to live if safety is an important concern. It is a fairly quiet village because there are relatively few of those groups of people who have a tendency to be noisy. (Children, for example, often can't help themselves from being noisy, and being parents ourselves, we know!) Cato has relatively few families with children living at home, and is quieter because of it. Renters and college students, for their own reasons, can also be noisy. Cato has few renters and college students. But the biggest reason it is quieter in Cato than in most places in America, is that there are just simply fewer people living here. If you think trees make good neighbors, Cato may be for you. As is often the case in a small village, Cato doesn't have a public transportation system that people use for their commute.The percentage of people in Cato with college degrees is quite a bit lower than the national average for cities and towns of 21.84%: just 12.50% of people over 25 have a bachelor's degree or advanced degree. The per capita income in Cato in 2022 was $31,674, which is lower middle income relative to New York, and middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $126,696 for a family of four. However, Cato contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. The people who call Cato home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Cato residents report their race to be White. Important ancestries of people in Cato include Irish, English, German, French Canadian, and Polish. The most common language spoken in Cato is English. Other important languages spoken here include Italian and Polish.
