Photo: Fletcher6 · CC BY-SA 3.0Most of Amesbury commutes out: there are 0.6 jobs for every working resident
For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 2.0 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 47.9 in Boston. Employers in Amesbury report 4,671 jobs, and 8,421 of its residents work somewhere. Amesbury grades A− for jobs and income and A− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
How Amesbury earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Amesbury is better than 80% of U.S. towns, #155 of 283 in Massachusetts. Household income is its strongest input ($103,554, U.S. $80,734); unemployment ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (3.6%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Amesbury could be anywhere from B to A.
How a workday changes Amesbury
On a workday 7,412 residents head out to work, 1,009 work right here, and 3,662 people come in from elsewhere.
About 14,000 people are in Amesbury on a workday afternoon, 21% fewer 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.
10% of working residents work in Newburyport
Where Amesbury clocks in
10% of workers
10% of workers
3% 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 Amesbury’s jobs are in goods
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Amesbury, 2013 → 2023: 3,597 → 4,671. 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 Amesbury’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Amesbury’s commute takes about 29 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Amesbury workers work from home, vs 19% across Massachusetts. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 7,825 commuters (the 17% who work from home are left out). Across Massachusetts: 75% drive alone, 8% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Short hops and long hauls from Amesbury
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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Amesbury
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Amesbury is more walkable than 83% of U.S. towns, #104 of 283 in Massachusetts. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 3.9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 14.1% across Massachusetts.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 9,471 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 60% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 17% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 2.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 69% 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). 5.8% of Amesbury households have no vehicle (Massachusetts 11.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Amesbury’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Amesbury is 686th among 2,103 U.S. towns of 12,000 to 24,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Trophy Club TX | 13,695 | $201K | 2.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 17 | Westwood MA | 16,426 | $223K | 4.6% | 1.9% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 26 | Hopkinton MA | 19,866 | $223K | 2.5% | 2.3% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 76 | Sharon MA | 18,798 | $192K | 3.8% | 3.0% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 684 | Lindenhurst IL | 14,810 | $131K | 4.1% | 6.7% | 3% | A− |
| 685 | Westbrook ME | 21,565 | $85K | 8.0% | 2.2% | 16% | A− |
| 686 | Amesbury MA | 17,588 | $104K | 7.1% | 3.6% | 12% | A− |
| 687 | Tallmadge OH | 18,521 | $89K | 5.0% | 4.1% | 9% | A− |
| 688 | Holmen WI | 12,105 | $80K | 6.0% | 0.3% | 9% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,103 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Amesbury, the top three, the last and three more from Massachusetts.
Next door is work for 13% of Amesbury
The biggest share goes to Newburyport (10%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Amesbury workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amesbury | – | A− | A− | 29 min | $103,554 |
| Newburyport | 10% | A− | A+ | 32 min | $139,625 |
| West Newbury | under 2% | A+ | C− | 31 min | $179,500 |
| Merrimac | under 2% | A | A− | 32 min | $123,054 |
| Salisbury | 3% | B+ | B− | 28 min | $93,361 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Amesbury’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 Amesbury: questions
What is the median household income in Amesbury?
$103,554 (±$11,632) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,960 across Massachusetts and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Amesbury?
7.1%, against 10.0% across Massachusetts and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Amesbury?
29 minutes each way on average, against 29 across Massachusetts and 26 nationally. 17% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Amesbury work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Newburyport (10%, 4 mi), Boston (10%, 36 mi), Haverhill (3%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Amesbury walkable?
Amesbury is more walkable than 83% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 10.7 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Amesbury without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 17% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Amesbury, from the people who make the trip.
More of Amesbury
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. 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.