Photo: Apw250 · CC BY 4.0Work means Pittsfield for about two in five of Dalton’s working residents
12% of workers work from home, next to 19% for Massachusetts as a whole. The two grades for Dalton are C+ for jobs and income and B for walkability. About one in seven work in Dalton; the top destination outside it is Pittsfield (42%, 6 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Dalton and work: the main findings
Commutes from Dalton are quick
The average trip to work takes 22 minutes, against 29 across Massachusetts. That’s about 54 hours a year less on the road than the typical Massachusetts worker. Time on the road ↓
Most Dalton residents work close to home
62% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. How far ↓
Dalton makes and builds things
37% of the jobs based in Dalton are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Dalton residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 15%. 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.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Dalton
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Dalton is better than 40% of U.S. towns, #258 of 283 in Massachusetts. The poverty rate holds Dalton’s grade up (7.4%, U.S. 12.5%); unemployment pulls it down (7.2%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Dalton could be anywhere from C− to B+.
Commuting out of Dalton: the destinations
Where Dalton clocks in
42% of workers
5% 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.
Each way, about 22 minutes from Dalton
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Dalton workers work from home, vs 19% across Massachusetts. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,286 commuters (the 13% 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 Dalton goes to work
About 16% 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.
Goods, not services: 37% of the jobs in Dalton
1,691 jobs are based in Dalton.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Dalton, 2013 → 2023: 1,940 → 1,691. 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 Dalton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Dalton on a workday afternoon
On a workday 2,446 residents head out to work, 408 work right here, and 1,283 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,000 people are in Dalton on a workday afternoon, 19% fewer than live here.
0.59 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.
Dalton is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Dalton is more walkable than 62% of U.S. towns, #190 of 283 in Massachusetts. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.5% 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 2,614 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 62% 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 0.7 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 53% 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). 5.0% of Dalton households have no vehicle (Massachusetts 11.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Dalton’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Dalton ranks: 2,213th of 3,370 U.S. towns of 4,300 to 8,300
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 37 | Lincoln MA | 6,925 | $175K | 2.3% | 2.2% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 92 | Hopedale MA | 6,066 | $116K | 2.9% | 1.6% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 99 | West Newbury MA | 4,709 | $180K | 1.6% | 2.4% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,211 | Belfair WA | 4,557 | $88K | 6.4% | 7.4% | 5% | C+ |
| 2,212 | Marshfield MO | 8,078 | $68K | 18.1% | 3.4% | 23% | C+ |
| 2,213 | Dalton MA | 6,157 | $79K | 7.4% | 7.2% | 14% | C+ |
| 2,214 | Woodruff SC | 6,026 | $71K | 14.2% | 4.8% | 5% | C+ |
| 2,215 | New Burlington OH | 5,426 | $73K | 12.6% | 12.6% | 2% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,370 | 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 Dalton, the top three, the last and three more from Massachusetts.
The towns next door employ 43% of Dalton
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Dalton workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dalton | – | C+ | B | 22 min | $79,438 |
| Pittsfield | 42% | C | A | 19 min | $70,582 |
| Hinsdale | 1% | B− | B+ | 23 min | $77,845 |
| Windsor | under 2% | — | — | 37 min | — |
| Washington | under 2% | — | — | 25 min | — |
| Cheshire | under 2% | C+ | A | 29 min | $69,803 |
Same-state neighbors only. Windsor: not graded. Washington: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Pittsfield. Darker towns draw more of Dalton’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 Dalton: questions
What is the median household income in Dalton?
$79,438 (±$7,763) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,960 across Massachusetts and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Dalton?
7.4%, against 10.0% across Massachusetts and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Dalton?
22 minutes each way on average, against 29 across Massachusetts and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Dalton work?
14% work in town.
Is Dalton walkable?
Dalton is more walkable than 62% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 9.1 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Dalton 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 Dalton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Dalton
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.