Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Amherst Town’s family incomes are higher than in 91% of U.S. towns
Not counting college students, poverty touches 10.1% of residents; Massachusetts has 9.4%. About one in four work in Amherst Town itself; outside it, Northampton draws the most (7%, 9 miles). Commuters spend 18 minutes getting to work on average; the Massachusetts average is 29, the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Amherst Town
Commutes from Amherst Town are quick
The average trip to work takes 18 minutes, against 29 across Massachusetts. That’s about 84 hours a year less on the road than the typical Massachusetts worker. Time on the road ↓
Amherst Town is where the jobs are
Amherst Town has 18,222 jobs, 2.1 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Nearly all the work in Amherst Town is services
95% of the jobs based here are in services, such as health care, schools and offices. Only 1% are in factories, building or farms. The jobs ↓
Amherst Town draws workers from far and wide
The 18,222 jobs in Amherst Town are filled from a wide area. Amherst Town’s own residents hold 12% and the ten next-biggest home towns 29%; the other 59% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
The biggest group of Amherst Town’s workers comes from Springfield
1,141 of the people who work in Amherst Town live in Springfield, 17 miles away, more than from any other town. The commute map ↓
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.
Why Amherst Town gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On family income, poverty and job access, Amherst Town is better than 74% of U.S. towns, #182 of 283 in Massachusetts. Family income holds Amherst Town’s grade up ($150,061, U.S. $99,999); the poverty rate pulls it down. It also does well on job access by car.
60% of Amherst Town’s residents are college students, and off-campus students count in the Census poverty figures. Where students are 15% or more of the people the Census checks for poverty (30% here), the grade uses the rate without them: 10.1%, against 23.7% for all residents. Unemployment (7.7%) is left out here: students looking for part-time work count as unemployed. Income is ranked as median family income ($150,061), since student households pull the household median down ($66,968).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for family income and poverty, Amherst Town could be anywhere from B to A.
Commuting from Amherst Town: about 18 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Amherst Town workers work from home, vs 19% across Massachusetts. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 12,597 commuters (the 21% 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.
Who leaves Amherst Town for work, and who comes in
On a workday 6,294 residents head out to work, 2,220 work right here, and 16,002 people come in from elsewhere.
About 51,000 people are in Amherst Town on a workday afternoon, 24% more than live here.
2.1 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Most jobs in Amherst Town are in services
18,222 jobs are based in Amherst Town.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Amherst Town, 2013 → 2023: 15,886 → 18,222. 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 Amherst Town’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The towns that send workers to Amherst Town
Where Amherst Town clocks in
7% of workers
7% of workers
5% 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.
How far Amherst Town goes to work
About 31% 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.
Amherst Town is more walkable than 98% of U.S. towns
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 15,941 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 89% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 41% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 13.6 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 96% 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). 14.5% of Amherst Town households have no vehicle (Massachusetts 11.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 11% of Amherst Town’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Amherst Town ranks: 444th of 1,019 U.S. towns of 29,000 to 55,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | Lexington MA | 34,648 | $238K | 4.7% | 2.9% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 39 | Shrewsbury MA | 39,627 | $139K | 3.7% | 2.4% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 44 | Arlington MA | 46,563 | $151K | 5.4% | 2.9% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 442 | Annandale VA | 41,705 | $116K | 12.1% | 4.9% | 5% | B+ |
| 443 | Huntley IL | 29,132 | $89K | 8.6% | 3.6% | 6% | B+ |
| 444 | Amherst Town MA | 40,920 | $67K | 23.7% | 7.7% | 26% | B+ |
| 445 | Hurst TX | 38,974 | $72K | 10.6% | 2.8% | 4% | B+ |
| 446 | Brighton NY | 36,695 | $85K | 8.9% | 3.9% | 9% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,019 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Amherst Town, the top three, the last and three more from Massachusetts.
Amherst Town and the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Hadley (4%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Amherst Town workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amherst Town | – | B+ | A+ | 18 min | $66,968 |
| Granby | under 2% | A | C+ | 23 min | $119,297 |
| Hadley | 4% | B+ | A− | 20 min | $119,259 |
| Pelham | under 2% | B+ | C+ | 23 min | $113,750 |
| South Hadley | 1% | A− | A | 24 min | $93,910 |
| Leverett | under 2% | B | C+ | 27 min | $104,688 |
| Shutesbury | under 2% | B | C− | 33 min | $123,333 |
| Belchertown | under 2% | A− | B− | 29 min | $108,068 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Amherst Town’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.
- Students. 60% of residents are college students; the poverty input leaves off-campus students out (above).
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Amherst Town: questions
What is the median household income in Amherst Town?
$66,968 (±$7,106) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,960 across Massachusetts and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Amherst Town?
23.7% of residents live below the poverty line; leaving out college students, 10.1%. Massachusetts: 10.0%.
How long is the commute from Amherst Town?
18 minutes each way on average, against 29 across Massachusetts and 26 nationally. 21% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Amherst Town work?
26% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Northampton (7%, 9 mi), Boston (7%, 76 mi), Springfield (5%, 17 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Amherst Town walkable?
Amherst Town is more walkable than 98% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 12.8 out of 20, and 39% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Amherst Town without a car?
11% of commuters take transit and 14% of households have no car. 41% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Amherst Town, from the people who make the trip.
More of Amherst Town
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.