Photo: T.S. Custadio aka ToddC4176 at en.wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Unemployment in Falmouth (6.3%) is higher than in 77% of U.S. towns
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 2.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 47.9 in Boston. For jobs and income Falmouth is better than 44% of U.S. towns (C+); for walkability it is more walkable than 83% of U.S. towns (A−). About two in five work in Falmouth itself; outside it, Barnstable Town draws the most (8%, 13 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Falmouth and work: the main findings
Falmouth’s workforce skews older
38% of Falmouth’s working residents are 55 or older. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Falmouth are quick
The average trip to work takes 24 minutes, against 29 across Massachusetts. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical Massachusetts 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.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Falmouth
Household income holds Falmouth’s grade up ($93,043, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down. It also does well on the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Falmouth could be anywhere from C to B.
68% of the jobs in Falmouth pay over $3,333 a month
12,371 jobs are based in Falmouth.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Falmouth, 2013 → 2023: 12,126 → 12,371. 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 Falmouth’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Falmouth, about 24 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Falmouth workers work from home, vs 19% across Massachusetts. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 12,027 commuters (the 19% 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 Falmouth
On a workday 7,999 residents head out to work, 5,056 work right here, and 7,315 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.95 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Where Falmouth’s working residents head each day
Where Falmouth clocks in
8% of workers
5% 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.
How far Falmouth’s workers travel
About 20% 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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Falmouth
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 14,909 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 28% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 5% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 2.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 70% 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). 6.5% of Falmouth households have no vehicle (Massachusetts 11.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Falmouth’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Falmouth is 975th among 1,315 U.S. towns of 23,000 to 45,000
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 973 | Lawrenceville GA | 32,822 | $62K | 15.4% | 5.1% | 10% | C+ |
| 974 | Long Branch NJ | 33,321 | $80K | 15.5% | 7.0% | 15% | C+ |
| 975 | Falmouth MA | 33,361 | $93K | 9.6% | 6.3% | 39% | C+ |
| 976 | Hobart Township IN | 39,973 | $70K | 12.4% | 7.3% | 12% | C+ |
| 977 | Wright FL | 27,927 | $70K | 16.7% | 3.6% | 13% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,315 | 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 Falmouth, the top three, the last and three more from Massachusetts.
Falmouth and the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Mashpee (5%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Falmouth workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Falmouth | – | C+ | A− | 24 min | $93,043 |
| Mashpee | 5% | B | B | 27 min | $95,299 |
| Seabrook | under 2% | — | — | 35 min | — |
| Seconsett Island | under 2% | — | — | — | — |
| Bourne | 4% | B | B+ | 26 min | $91,058 |
| Gosnold | under 2% | — | — | 10 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Seabrook and Seconsett Island: Census-designated places inside larger towns, graded as part of them. Gosnold: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Falmouth’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 Falmouth: questions
What is the median household income in Falmouth?
$93,043 (±$9,416) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,960 across Massachusetts and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Falmouth?
9.6%, against 10.0% across Massachusetts and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Falmouth?
24 minutes each way on average, against 29 across Massachusetts and 26 nationally. 19% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Falmouth work?
39% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Barnstable Town (8%, 13 mi), Boston (5%, 55 mi), Mashpee (5%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Falmouth walkable?
Falmouth is more walkable than 83% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.6 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Falmouth without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 5% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Falmouth, from the people who make the trip.
More of Falmouth
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.