Brimfield Center Historic District · Photo: Daderot · CC0With 0.3 jobs for every working resident, most of Brimfield works elsewhere
Measured by household income, Brimfield is ahead of 84% of U.S. towns. 539 jobs are based in Brimfield, against 1,543 working residents. For jobs and income Brimfield is better than 87% of U.S. towns (A); for walkability it is more walkable than 9% of U.S. towns (D).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Brimfield apart on work
Brimfield makes and builds things
42% of the jobs based in Brimfield are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Brimfield residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 21%. The jobs ↓
Brimfield workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 34 minutes each way, against 29 across Massachusetts. Over a year that’s about 261 hours of commuting, 38 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
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 Brimfield gets the Jobs & income grade it does
The poverty rate holds Brimfield’s grade up (3.6%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 46% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Brimfield could be anywhere from B+ to A+.
Making and building: 42% of jobs based in Brimfield
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Brimfield, 2013 → 2023: 442 → 539. 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 Brimfield’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 34 minutes in Brimfield
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Brimfield workers work from home, vs 19% across Massachusetts. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,571 commuters (the 14% 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 a workday changes Brimfield
On a workday 1,424 residents head out to work, 119 work right here, and 420 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,700 people are in Brimfield on a workday afternoon, 27% 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.
10% of working residents work in Sturbridge
Where Brimfield clocks in
10% of workers
8% 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.
Brimfield’s commute, mile by mile
About 24% 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.
In Brimfield, the car does most of the work
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,821 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). 4.9% of Brimfield households have no vehicle (Massachusetts 11.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Brimfield’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Brimfield is 535th among 4,318 U.S. towns of 2,600 to 5,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 107 | West Newbury MA | 4,709 | $180K | 1.6% | 2.4% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 113 | Wenham MA | 4,952 | $195K | 3.7% | 2.6% | 14% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 137 | Avon MA | 4,861 | $131K | 4.6% | 2.5% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 533 | Santa Rosa Valley CA | 2,780 | $214K | 2.9% | 4.8% | 3% | A |
| 534 | North Muskegon MI | 4,079 | $105K | 5.0% | 2.2% | 5% | A |
| 535 | Brimfield MA | 3,739 | $111K | 3.6% | 2.1% | 8% | A |
| 536 | Wales NY | 3,019 | $89K | 4.3% | 1.2% | 5% | A |
| 537 | Linn WI | 2,707 | $99K | 5.7% | 1.3% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,318 | 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 Brimfield, the top three, the last and three more from Massachusetts.
Bordering towns draw 14% of Brimfield’s workers
The biggest share goes to Sturbridge (10%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Brimfield workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brimfield | – | A | D | 34 min | $111,250 |
| Palmer Town | 4% | B+ | C+ | 31 min | $78,480 |
| Warren | under 2% | C+ | D | 33 min | $66,082 |
| Monson | under 2% | B | C+ | 34 min | $96,688 |
| Wales | under 2% | A− | C | 35 min | $89,006 |
| Holland | under 2% | B+ | C | 36 min | $91,979 |
| Sturbridge | 10% | A | C | 38 min | $136,759 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Brimfield’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 Brimfield: questions
What is the median household income in Brimfield?
$111,250 (±$21,930) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,960 across Massachusetts and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Brimfield?
3.6%, against 10.0% across Massachusetts and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Brimfield?
34 minutes each way on average, against 29 across Massachusetts and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Brimfield work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Sturbridge (10%, 6 mi), Worcester (8%, 23 mi), Boston (6%, 63 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Brimfield walkable?
Brimfield is more walkable than 9% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 4.3 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Brimfield without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Brimfield, from the people who make the trip.
More of Brimfield
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.