Photo: John Phelan · CC BY-SA 4.0Ayer has higher unemployment (7.0%) than 82% of U.S. towns
For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 1.4 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 47.9 in Boston. Jobs and income earn Ayer B; getting around on foot earns it A. Household incomes here are higher than in 78% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Ayer apart on work
No single place dominates Ayer’s commute
The biggest draw, Boston, gets only 7% of working residents, and 59% work outside the top ten towns entirely. Ayer residents fan out across the region. The commute map ↓
Most jobs in Ayer pay over $40,000 a year
77% of the jobs based in Ayer pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), the top earnings band in the Census data. The jobs ↓
Ayer makes and builds things
42% of the jobs based in Ayer are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Ayer residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 17%. The jobs ↓
Ayer draws workers from far and wide
The 5,792 jobs in Ayer are filled from a wide area. Ayer’s own residents hold 7% and the ten next-biggest home towns 37%; the other 56% come from many towns beyond those. 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.
What’s behind Ayer’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Ayer is better than 59% of U.S. towns, #218 of 283 in Massachusetts. Job access by car holds Ayer’s grade up (ahead of 81% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down. It also does well on household income.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Ayer could be anywhere from C+ to A.
7% of working residents work in Boston
Where Ayer clocks in
7% of workers
3% 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.
Ayer works in goods: 42% of its jobs
5,792 jobs are based in Ayer.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ayer, 2013 → 2023: 4,451 → 5,792. 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 Ayer’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who commutes out of Ayer, and who commutes in
On a workday 3,827 residents head out to work, 417 work right here, and 5,375 people come in from elsewhere.
About 11,000 people are in Ayer on a workday afternoon, 17% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.36 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
From Ayer, about 33 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ayer workers work from home, vs 19% across Massachusetts. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,788 commuters (the 22% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Ayer
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.
In Ayer, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Ayer is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns, #92 of 283 in Massachusetts. Both inputs place Ayer near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 4,832 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 65% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.4 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 63% 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). 3.8% of Ayer households have no vehicle (Massachusetts 11.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 5% of Ayer’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Ayer ranks: 1,439th of 2,841 U.S. towns of 6,500 to 12,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Pimmit Hills VA | 6,589 | $173K | 1.6% | 1.3% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Braddock VA | 6,536 | $212K | 0.9% | 1.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 31 | Lincoln MA | 6,925 | $175K | 2.3% | 2.2% | 5% | A+ |
| 32 | Weston MA | 11,729 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.2% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 43 | Norwell MA | 11,546 | $189K | 2.7% | 1.9% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,437 | Kapaa HI | 11,094 | $89K | 7.5% | 2.3% | 11% | B |
| 1,438 | Washington Township IN | 7,010 | $71K | 12.5% | 2.8% | 13% | B |
| 1,439 | Ayer MA | 9,267 | $102K | 10.7% | 7.0% | 10% | B |
| 1,440 | Edgewater Park Township NJ | 9,617 | $85K | 18.6% | 4.2% | 5% | B |
| 1,441 | Vernon NY | 8,079 | $78K | 8.5% | 3.5% | 10% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 2,841 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Ayer, the top three, the last and three more from Massachusetts.
Work in the towns next to Ayer
The biggest share goes to Littleton (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Ayer workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ayer | – | B | A | 33 min | $101,875 |
| Shirley | under 3% | B+ | B− | 40 min | $122,365 |
| Littleton | 3% | A | B+ | 33 min | $149,722 |
| Devens | under 3% | — | — | 28 min | — |
| Groton | under 3% | A− | B+ | 32 min | $192,958 |
| Harvard | 3% | A− | B | 32 min | $213,996 |
Same-state neighbors only. Devens: 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 Ayer’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 Ayer: questions
What is the median household income in Ayer?
$101,875 (±$14,619) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,960 across Massachusetts and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ayer?
10.7%, against 10.0% across Massachusetts and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ayer?
33 minutes each way on average, against 29 across Massachusetts and 26 nationally. 22% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ayer work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Boston (7%, 33 mi), Acton (3%, 9 mi), Littleton (3%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Ayer walkable?
Ayer is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 9.4 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ayer without a car?
5% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Ayer, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ayer
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.