John B. Gough House · Photo: Tim Pierce · CC BY 3.0Household incomes in Boylston top those of 94% of U.S. towns
6.4% of residents are in poverty, against 10.0% across Massachusetts. Boylston grades A for jobs and income and C for walkability. Only 6% stay in Boylston for work; outside it, Worcester is the main destination (18%, 8 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Boylston in brief
How Boylston earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Boylston is better than 87% of U.S. towns, #106 of 283 in Massachusetts. Household income is its strongest input ($140,962, U.S. $80,734); unemployment ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (3.7%, 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, Boylston could be anywhere from B+ to A+.
The places Boylston commutes to
Where Boylston clocks in
18% of workers
6% 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 daily flow of workers through Boylston
On a workday 2,197 residents head out to work, 151 work right here, and 1,321 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,200 people are in Boylston on a workday afternoon, 17% fewer than live here.
0.63 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
Inside Boylston’s 1,472 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Boylston, 2013 → 2023: 1,323 → 1,472. 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 Boylston’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 27 minutes each way for Boylston’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Boylston workers work from home, vs 19% across Massachusetts. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,960 commuters (the 23% 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.
How far Boylston’s workers travel
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.
Boylston is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Boylston is more walkable than 28% of U.S. towns, #259 of 283 in Massachusetts. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.8% 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 2,535 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). 2.7% of Boylston households have no vehicle (Massachusetts 11.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Boylston’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Boylston ranks: 536th of 3,627 U.S. towns of 3,600 to 6,900
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 105 | Hopedale MA | 6,066 | $116K | 2.9% | 1.6% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 111 | West Newbury MA | 4,709 | $180K | 1.6% | 2.4% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 122 | Wenham MA | 4,952 | $195K | 3.7% | 2.6% | 14% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 534 | Bealeton VA | 5,034 | $108K | 1.6% | 1.6% | 1% | A |
| 535 | Polk City IA | 6,630 | $164K | 6.7% | 3.2% | 5% | A |
| 536 | Boylston MA | 5,104 | $141K | 6.4% | 3.7% | 6% | A |
| 537 | Wayne Township OH | 4,547 | $80K | 3.2% | 1.8% | 4% | A |
| 538 | Washington Township PA | 6,647 | $87K | 2.8% | 2.8% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,627 | 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 Boylston, the top three, the last and three more from Massachusetts.
Boylston and its neighbors
The biggest share goes to Shrewsbury (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Boylston workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boylston | – | A | C | 27 min | $140,962 |
| Shrewsbury | 3% | A+ | B+ | 31 min | $139,302 |
| West Boylston | under 2% | A− | B | 25 min | $104,551 |
| Clinton | under 2% | B | B | 30 min | $89,781 |
| Northborough | 3% | A | B | 31 min | $153,199 |
| Berlin | under 2% | A− | B− | 34 min | $121,336 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Boylston’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 Boylston: questions
What is the median household income in Boylston?
$140,962 (±$28,329) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,960 across Massachusetts and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Boylston?
6.4%, against 10.0% across Massachusetts and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Boylston?
27 minutes each way on average, against 29 across Massachusetts and 26 nationally. 23% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Boylston work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Worcester (18%, 8 mi), Boston (6%, 36 mi), Marlborough (6%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Boylston walkable?
Boylston is more walkable than 28% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 6.4 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Boylston without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Boylston, from the people who make the trip.
More of Boylston
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.