Photo: John Phelan · CC BY-SA 3.0Dracut has 0.4 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
There are 6,322 jobs in Dracut; 17,644 of its residents have a job. Jobs and income earn Dracut A−; getting around on foot earns it A−. Measured by household income, Dracut is ahead of 86% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Dracut, in brief
What’s behind Dracut’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Dracut is better than 82% of U.S. towns, #142 of 283 in Massachusetts. Job access by car is its strongest input (ahead of 87% of U.S. towns); unemployment ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (4.0%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Dracut could be anywhere from B+ to A.
Dracut quiets down on a workday
On a workday 16,251 residents head out to work, 1,393 work right here, and 4,929 people come in from elsewhere.
About 21,000 people are in Dracut on a workday afternoon, 35% 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.
12% of working residents work in Lowell
Where Dracut clocks in
12% of workers
9% of workers
4% 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 Dracut
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Dracut, 2013 → 2023: 5,204 → 6,322. 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 Dracut’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Dracut: about 30 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Dracut workers work from home, vs 19% across Massachusetts. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 14,902 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.
How far Dracut’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.
Dracut is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Dracut is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns, #142 of 283 in Massachusetts. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.8% 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 16,826 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 45% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 14% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.8 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 67% 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). 5.3% of Dracut households have no vehicle (Massachusetts 11.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Dracut’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 1,283 U.S. towns of 23,000 to 44,000, Dracut comes 408th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 2 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 33 | Hingham MA | 24,481 | $178K | 4.3% | 2.4% | 13% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 36 | Lexington MA | 34,648 | $238K | 4.7% | 2.9% | 11% | A+ |
| 37 | Reading MA | 25,803 | $166K | 3.2% | 3.3% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 406 | Elkridge MD | 26,283 | $140K | 7.6% | 5.2% | 4% | A− |
| 407 | Lindenhurst NY | 27,258 | $130K | 5.7% | 6.3% | 8% | A− |
| 408 | Dracut MA | 32,783 | $114K | 7.8% | 4.0% | 8% | A− |
| 409 | Branford CT | 28,724 | $105K | 5.9% | 4.2% | 15% | A− |
| 410 | Hudson NH | 26,001 | $124K | 4.6% | 5.0% | 13% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,283 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Dracut, the top three, the last and three more from Massachusetts.
Work next door: 19% of Dracut’s workers
The biggest share goes to Lowell (12%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Dracut workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dracut | – | A− | A− | 30 min | $114,036 |
| Andover | 4% | A | A | 29 min | $172,606 |
| Tyngsborough | under 3% | A− | C− | 24 min | $129,348 |
| Lowell | 12% | B− | A+ | 28 min | $78,658 |
| Tewksbury | 3% | A | B+ | 30 min | $128,061 |
| Methuen | under 3% | B+ | A− | 28 min | $113,310 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Dracut’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 Dracut: questions
What is the median household income in Dracut?
$114,036 (±$9,903) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,960 across Massachusetts and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Dracut?
7.8%, against 10.0% across Massachusetts and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Dracut?
30 minutes each way on average, against 29 across Massachusetts and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Dracut work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lowell (12%, 3 mi), Boston (9%, 28 mi), Chelmsford (4%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Dracut walkable?
Dracut is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 9.4 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Dracut without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 14% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Dracut, from the people who make the trip.
More of Dracut
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.