Stony Brook-Factory Village Historic District · Photo: John Phelan · CC BY 3.0Brewster has higher unemployment (10.9%) than 96% of U.S. towns
Measured by household income, Brewster is ahead of 79% of U.S. towns. Jobs and income earn Brewster C+; getting around on foot earns it A−. For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 0.6 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 47.9 in Boston.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Brewster and work: the main findings
Commutes from Brewster are quick
The average trip to work takes 21 minutes, against 29 across Massachusetts. That’s about 61 hours a year less on the road than the typical Massachusetts worker. Time on the road ↓
Brewster’s workforce skews older
38% of Brewster’s working residents are 55 or older. The jobs ↓
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 Brewster’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Brewster is better than 45% of U.S. towns, #252 of 283 in Massachusetts. Household income holds Brewster’s grade up ($103,317, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down. It also does well on the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Brewster could be anywhere from C to B+.
About 21 minutes each way, quicker than most of Massachusetts
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Brewster workers work from home, vs 19% across Massachusetts. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,448 commuters (the 20% 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.
The 2,392 jobs based in Brewster
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Brewster, 2013 → 2023: 2,287 → 2,392. 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 Brewster’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who leaves Brewster for work, and who comes in
On a workday 3,514 residents head out to work, 607 work right here, and 1,785 people come in from elsewhere.
About 8,700 people are in Brewster on a workday afternoon, 17% fewer than live here.
0.58 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.
11% of working residents work in Barnstable Town
Where Brewster clocks in
11% of workers
10% of workers
7% 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.
Miles to work from Brewster
About 28% 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.
Brewster is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Brewster is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns, #127 of 283 in Massachusetts. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 7.9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 14.1% across Massachusetts, on an EPA index of 7.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 4,324 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 15% 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 0.6 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 51% 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). 7.2% of Brewster households have no vehicle (Massachusetts 11.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of Brewster’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Brewster is 1,859th of 2,878 U.S. towns of 7,000 to 14,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 24 | Weston MA | 11,729 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.2% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 34 | Norwell MA | 11,546 | $189K | 2.7% | 1.9% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 80 | Georgetown MA | 8,577 | $152K | 3.8% | 1.7% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,857 | Thief River Falls MN | 8,799 | $71K | 12.2% | 2.7% | 71% | C+ |
| 1,858 | Manchester TN | 13,776 | $58K | 14.9% | 2.2% | 23% | C+ |
| 1,859 | Brewster MA | 10,457 | $103K | 6.8% | 10.9% | 15% | C+ |
| 1,860 | Cortlandville NY | 8,191 | $74K | 7.8% | 4.9% | 18% | C+ |
| 1,861 | River Oaks TX | 7,467 | $64K | 14.2% | 6.0% | 3% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,878 | 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 Brewster, the top three, the last and three more from Massachusetts.
21% of Brewster works in a town next door
The biggest share goes to Orleans (10%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Brewster workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brewster | – | C+ | A− | 21 min | $103,317 |
| Dennis | 5% | B | B+ | 24 min | $88,154 |
| East Dennis | under 2% | — | — | 24 min | — |
| Orleans | 10% | B | B+ | 22 min | $102,335 |
| Harwich | 6% | B | B | 25 min | $96,966 |
| East Harwich | under 2% | — | — | 24 min | — |
| Northwest Harwich | under 2% | — | — | 24 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. East Dennis, East Harwich and Northwest Harwich: Census-designated places inside larger towns, graded as part of them. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Brewster’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 Brewster: questions
What is the median household income in Brewster?
$103,317 (±$16,370) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,960 across Massachusetts and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Brewster?
6.8%, against 10.0% across Massachusetts and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Brewster?
21 minutes each way on average, against 29 across Massachusetts and 26 nationally. 20% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Brewster work?
15% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Barnstable Town (11%, 16 mi), Orleans (10%, 5 mi), Boston (7%, 63 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Brewster walkable?
Brewster is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Brewster without a car?
3% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Brewster, from the people who make the trip.
More of Brewster
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.