Photo: Hantsheroes · CC BY-SA 3.0With 0.5 jobs for every working resident, most of Dudley works elsewhere
Home is the office for 9% of workers, next to 19% for Massachusetts as a whole. There are 2,771 jobs in Dudley; 6,001 of its residents have a job. Jobs and income earn Dudley B+; getting around on foot earns it B.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Dudley
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Dudley is better than 65% of U.S. towns, #207 of 283 in Massachusetts. The poverty rate holds Dudley’s grade up (6.4%, U.S. 12.5%); unemployment pulls it down (4.9%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Dudley could be anywhere from B− to A.
How a workday changes Dudley
On a workday 5,547 residents head out to work, 454 work right here, and 2,317 people come in from elsewhere.
About 8,700 people are in Dudley 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.
16% of working residents work in Worcester
Where Dudley clocks in
16% of workers
8% of workers
5% 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.
Dudley works in goods: 33% of its jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Dudley, 2013 → 2023: 2,673 → 2,771. 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 Dudley’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 27 minutes in Dudley
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Dudley workers work from home, vs 19% across Massachusetts. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,924 commuters (the 9% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Dudley
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.
Most of Dudley commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Dudley is more walkable than 57% of U.S. towns, #196 of 283 in Massachusetts. Both inputs place Dudley near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 5,418 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 1.4 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 62% 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). 10.1% of Dudley households have no vehicle (Massachusetts 11.7%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Dudley’s commuters take a bus or train.
Dudley is 1,248th of 2,695 U.S. towns of 8,000 to 16,000 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | Weston MA | 11,729 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.2% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 34 | Norwell MA | 11,546 | $189K | 2.7% | 1.9% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 82 | Georgetown MA | 8,577 | $152K | 3.8% | 1.7% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,246 | Clinton TN | 10,466 | $69K | 12.7% | 1.4% | 21% | B+ |
| 1,247 | Cleveland Township IN | 13,130 | $84K | 12.0% | 3.2% | 10% | B+ |
| 1,248 | Dudley MA | 11,972 | $85K | 6.4% | 4.9% | 8% | B+ |
| 1,249 | Schoolcraft Township MI | 9,316 | $81K | 8.5% | 3.1% | 9% | B+ |
| 1,250 | Wells Branch TX | 13,523 | $67K | 12.9% | 2.8% | 3% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,695 | Roma TX | 11,543 | $25K | 37.1% | 12.4% | 22% | 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 Dudley, the top three, the last and three more from Massachusetts.
Bordering towns draw 16% of Dudley’s workers
The biggest share goes to Webster (8%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Dudley workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dudley | – | B+ | B | 27 min | $84,604 |
| Webster | 8% | C+ | B+ | 31 min | $72,895 |
| Southbridge Town | 3% | C | A | 28 min | $66,287 |
| Oxford | 5% | B+ | B− | 28 min | $103,862 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Dudley’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 Dudley: questions
What is the median household income in Dudley?
$84,604 (±$11,774) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,960 across Massachusetts and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Dudley?
6.4%, against 10.0% across Massachusetts and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Dudley?
27 minutes each way on average, against 29 across Massachusetts and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Dudley work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Worcester (16%, 16 mi), Webster (8%, 5 mi), Boston (5%, 51 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Dudley walkable?
Dudley is more walkable than 57% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 6.8 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Dudley without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Dudley, from the people who make the trip.
More of Dudley
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.