Photo: Joe Mabel (on Flickr as Joe Mabel from Seattle, US) · CC BY-SA 3.0Unemployment in Essex (2.1%) is lower than in 83% of U.S. towns
Measured by household income, Essex is ahead of 80% of U.S. towns. For jobs and income Essex is better than 92% of U.S. towns (A); for walkability it is more walkable than 93% of U.S. towns (A). Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 1.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 31.8 in Stamford.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The short version on getting to work from Essex
No single place dominates Essex’s commute
The biggest draw, Old Saybrook, gets only 7% of working residents, and 52% work outside the top ten towns entirely. Essex residents fan out across the region. The commute map ↓
Essex’s workforce skews older
40% of Essex’s working residents are 55 or older. That’s about two in five. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
The four measures behind Essex’s grade
The poverty rate is its strongest input (3.2%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 66% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Essex could be anywhere from A− to A+.
7% of working residents work in Old Saybrook
Where Essex clocks in
7% of workers
5% of workers
4% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
A place that makes things: 30% of Essex’s jobs are in goods
3,444 jobs are based in Essex.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Essex, 2014 → 2024: 3,342 → 3,444. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Essex’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Essex on a workday afternoon
On a workday 2,432 residents head out to work, 384 work right here, and 3,060 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.22 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
About 27 minutes to work from Essex
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Essex workers work from home, vs 16% across Connecticut. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,856 commuters (the 19% who work from home are left out). Across Connecticut: 82% drive alone, 4% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Where in the region Essex works
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Essex is easy on foot, hard by bus
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 3,544 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 88% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 60% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 59% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 5.4% of Essex households have no vehicle (Connecticut 8.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Essex’s commuters take a bus or train.
Essex next to U.S. towns of 4,800 to 9,200: 334th of 3,168 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 33 | Bethany CT | 5,339 | $166K | 2.3% | 1.1% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 124 | East Granby CT | 5,432 | $121K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 224 | Bolton CT | 4,875 | $126K | 7.2% | 1.3% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 332 | Aubrey TX | 9,066 | $102K | 7.8% | 1.2% | 2% | A |
| 333 | Old Lyme CT | 7,702 | $132K | 2.9% | 2.7% | 13% | A |
| 334 | Essex CT | 6,819 | $104K | 3.2% | 2.1% | 14% | A |
| 335 | South Heidelberg Township PA | 7,942 | $111K | 7.0% | 1.2% | 4% | A |
| 336 | Jericho VT | 5,056 | $117K | 0.9% | 1.2% | 11% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,168 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 6% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Essex, the top three, the last and three more from Connecticut.
Work next door: 13% of Essex’s workers
The biggest share goes to Old Saybrook (7%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Essex workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essex | – | A | A | 27 min | $104,395 |
| Deep River | 2% | B+ | A− | 24 min | $90,253 |
| Lyme | under 3% | A | B | 31 min | $135,000 |
| Westbrook | 4% | A− | A | 21 min | $91,202 |
| Old Saybrook | 7% | A | B+ | 29 min | $114,333 |
| Deep River Center | under 3% | — | — | 20 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Deep River Center: a Census-designated place inside a larger town, graded as part of it. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Essex’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Essex: questions
What is the median household income in Essex?
$104,395 (±$6,626) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,781 across Connecticut and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Essex?
3.2%, against 10.0% across Connecticut and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Essex?
27 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Connecticut and 26 nationally. 19% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Essex work?
14% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Old Saybrook (7%, 4 mi), New Haven (5%, 27 mi), Hartford (4%, 32 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Essex walkable?
Essex is more walkable than 93% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 12.8 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Essex without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 60% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Essex, from the people who make the trip.
More of Essex
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.