Photo: Pvmoutside at English Wikipedia · Public domainWith 0.5 jobs for every working resident, most of Barre works elsewhere
Household incomes here are higher than in 82% of U.S. towns. 1,220 jobs are based in Barre, against 2,672 working residents. For jobs and income Barre is better than 72% of U.S. towns (B+); for walkability it is more walkable than 58% of U.S. towns (B).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Barre in brief
Barre’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
Unemployment holds Barre’s grade up (2.1%, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 34% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Barre could be anywhere from C+ to A.
How long Barre spends getting to work: about 36 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Barre workers work from home, vs 19% across Massachusetts. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,534 commuters (the 11% 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.
A workday in Barre: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 2,384 residents head out to work, 288 work right here, and 932 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,200 people are in Barre on a workday afternoon, 26% 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.
14% of working residents work in Worcester
Where Barre clocks in
14% of workers
6% of workers
2% 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 Barre
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Barre, 2013 → 2023: 1,031 → 1,220. 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 Barre’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Short hops and long hauls from Barre
About 19% 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.
For most of Barre, work means a drive
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 6.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 14.1% across Massachusetts, on an EPA index of 5.6.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,854 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% 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 under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 7.9% of Barre households have no vehicle (Massachusetts 11.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 4% of Barre’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Barre ranks: 1,092nd of 3,561 U.S. towns of 3,900 to 7,600
| # | 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 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 35 | Lincoln MA | 6,925 | $175K | 2.3% | 2.2% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 96 | Hopedale MA | 6,066 | $116K | 2.9% | 1.6% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 103 | West Newbury MA | 4,709 | $180K | 1.6% | 2.4% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,090 | Berryville VA | 4,828 | $103K | 10.6% | 1.8% | 10% | B+ |
| 1,091 | Newport Township IL | 6,768 | $125K | 6.2% | 7.6% | 4% | B+ |
| 1,092 | Barre MA | 5,641 | $108K | 8.2% | 2.1% | 11% | B+ |
| 1,093 | East Hanover Township PA | 6,100 | $100K | 5.7% | 5.4% | 7% | B+ |
| 1,094 | Canfield OH | 7,584 | $97K | 4.1% | 6.0% | 6% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,561 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Barre, the top three, the last and three more from Massachusetts.
Around Barre: the bordering towns
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Barre workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barre | – | B+ | B | 36 min | $107,727 |
| Hubbardston | under 2% | A− | D | 36 min | $123,500 |
| Oakham | under 2% | B+ | D | 39 min | $102,000 |
| Rutland | under 2% | A− | C− | 37 min | $145,707 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Barre’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 Barre: questions
What is the median household income in Barre?
$107,727 (±$12,819) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,960 across Massachusetts and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Barre?
8.2%, against 10.0% across Massachusetts and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Barre?
36 minutes each way on average, against 29 across Massachusetts and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Barre work?
11% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Worcester (14%, 19 mi), Boston (6%, 56 mi), Gardner (2%, 13 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Barre walkable?
Barre is more walkable than 58% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 5.6 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Barre without a car?
4% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Barre, from the people who make the trip.
More of Barre
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.