Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Mystic has 2.6 jobs for every working resident: 3,594 people commute in to work
Below the poverty line: 2.1% of residents, against 10.0% across Connecticut. Mystic has 3,799 jobs, against 1,477 working residents. The average commute takes 21 minutes each way, next to 27 for Connecticut and 26 for the U.S.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Mystic
Mystic is where the jobs are
Mystic has 3,799 jobs, 2.6 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 6,800 people are in town, 52% more than the 4,500 who live here. Day and night ↓
Mystic and Groton trade workers both ways
Groton is the top workplace for Mystic residents (24%) and also where the most people who work in Mystic come from (20% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Mystic
67% of Mystic residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 43% of the jobs based in Mystic pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 86% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Mystic are quick
The average trip to work takes 21 minutes, against 27 across Connecticut. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical Connecticut worker. Time on the road ↓
A lot of Mystic works from home
24% of Mystic workers work from home, against 16% across Connecticut. Time on the road ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
How a workday changes Mystic
On a workday 1,272 residents head out to work and 205 work right here.
About 6,800 people are in Mystic on a workday afternoon, 52% more than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Commuting in to Mystic: where workers come from
Where Mystic clocks in
24% of workers
17% of workers
6% 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.
The kinds of work in Mystic
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Mystic, 2013 → 2023: 3,476 → 3,799. 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.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Mystic’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Mystic takes about 21 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Mystic workers work from home, vs 16% across Connecticut. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,520 commuters (the 24% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Mystic
About 17% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Mystic and its neighbors: 24% work next door
Jobs & commute next door
The biggest share goes to Groton. Darker towns draw more of Mystic’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 2023, 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 Mystic: questions
What is the median household income in Mystic?
$152,559 (±$27,005) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,781 across Connecticut and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Mystic?
2.1%, against 10.0% across Connecticut and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Mystic?
21 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Connecticut and 26 nationally. 24% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Mystic work?
14% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Groton (24%, 4 mi), Stonington (17%, 2 mi), New London (6%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Mystic without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 14% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Mystic, from the people who make the trip.
More of Mystic
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.