Photo: John Phelan · CC BY 3.0Dunstable’s household incomes are among the highest in the country
Measured by household income, Dunstable is among the highest-earning towns in the country. Below the poverty line: 0.5% of residents, next to 10.0% for Massachusetts as a whole. Jobs and income earn Dunstable A; getting around on foot earns it D.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Dunstable: the gist
Dunstable is a place people come home to
There are 260 jobs based in Dunstable, about one for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Dunstable has about 1,900 people in it, 44% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Dunstable’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Dunstable is Boston, 34 miles away as the crow flies. 9% of working residents (171) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Dunstable 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 ↓
Three in four Dunstable workers earn over $40,000 a year
76% of Dunstable’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, the top earnings band in the Census data. 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 drives the Jobs & income grade in Dunstable
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Dunstable is better than 88% of U.S. towns, #91 of 283 in Massachusetts. The poverty rate holds Dunstable’s grade up; unemployment pulls it down (5.6%, 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, Dunstable could be anywhere from A− to A+.
The daily flow of workers through Dunstable
On a workday 1,709 residents head out to work, 93 work right here, and 167 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,900 people are in Dunstable on a workday afternoon, 44% fewer than live here.
0.14 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.
Miles to work from Dunstable
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.
Each way, about 34 minutes from Dunstable
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Dunstable workers work from home, vs 19% across Massachusetts. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,554 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.
A place that makes things: 33% of Dunstable’s jobs are in goods
260 jobs are based in Dunstable.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Dunstable, 2013 → 2023: 216 → 260. 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 Dunstable’s own residents hold wherever they work.
9% of working residents work in Boston
Where Dunstable clocks in
9% of workers
7% 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.
In Dunstable, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Dunstable is more walkable than 10% of U.S. towns, #279 of 283 in Massachusetts. Both inputs place Dunstable 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 1,942 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). 1.3% of Dunstable households have no vehicle (Massachusetts 11.7%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Dunstable’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 2,400 to 4,700, Dunstable ranks 487th of 4,535 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 171 | Princeton MA | 3,618 | $159K | 4.2% | 0.4% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 274 | Millville MA | 3,186 | $127K | 4.6% | 3.0% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 286 | Sherborn MA | 4,455 | $250K | 3.1% | 4.6% | 6% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 485 | Maine WI | 2,621 | $111K | 2.8% | 2.1% | 3% | A |
| 486 | Minster OH | 3,062 | $88K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 20% | A |
| 487 | Dunstable MA | 3,486 | $209K | 0.5% | 5.6% | 5% | A |
| 488 | Douglass Township PA | 3,874 | $80K | 5.3% | 0.0% | 4% | A |
| 489 | Charlotte VT | 3,846 | $144K | 3.7% | 1.1% | 10% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,535 | 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 Dunstable, the top three, the last and three more from Massachusetts.
11% of Dunstable works in a bordering town
The biggest share goes to Nashua (5%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Dunstable workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dunstable | – | A | D | 34 min | $208,512 |
| Pepperell | under 3% | A− | C | 34 min | $124,073 |
| Tyngsborough | 3% | A− | C− | 24 min | $129,348 |
| Groton | 3% | A− | B+ | 32 min | $192,958 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Dunstable’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 Dunstable: questions
What is the median household income in Dunstable?
$208,512 (±$22,907) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,960 across Massachusetts and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Dunstable?
0.5%, against 10.0% across Massachusetts and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Dunstable?
34 minutes each way on average, against 29 across Massachusetts and 26 nationally. 20% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Dunstable work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Boston (9%, 34 mi), Lowell (7%, 9 mi), Nashua (5%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Dunstable walkable?
Dunstable is more walkable than 10% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 4.1 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Dunstable without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Dunstable, from the people who make the trip.
More of Dunstable
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.