East Freetown Historic District · Photo: User:Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in Freetown are higher than in 94% of U.S. towns
Working from home is the commute for 8% of workers, where Massachusetts as a whole has 19%. The poverty rate is 3.1%, next to 10.0% for Massachusetts as a whole. Jobs and income earn Freetown A; getting around on foot earns it C+.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Freetown apart on work
Freetown trades workers with the towns around it
Freetown has about as many jobs (3,968) as working residents (4,119), but they are mostly different people: 3,679 residents leave for work each day while 3,528 people come in. Only 11% of the jobs in Freetown are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Stores, warehouses and trucking
52% of the jobs in Freetown are in trade, transport and utilities, against 19% of the jobs its residents hold. 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 Freetown earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Freetown is better than 86% of U.S. towns, #107 of 283 in Massachusetts. Household income holds Freetown’s grade up ($143,884, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down (4.6%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Freetown could be anywhere from A− to A+.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 3,679 residents head out to work, 440 work right here, and 3,528 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 (0.96 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.
Jobs in Freetown: what the 3,968 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Freetown, 2013 → 2023: 3,442 → 3,968. 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 Freetown’s own residents hold wherever they work.
11% of working residents work in New Bedford
Where Freetown clocks in
11% of workers
10% of workers
6% 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 daily trip from Freetown: about 32 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Freetown workers work from home, vs 19% across Massachusetts. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,547 commuters (the 8% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Freetown
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.
The commute in Freetown is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Freetown is more walkable than 39% of U.S. towns, #242 of 283 in Massachusetts. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 2.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 14.1% across Massachusetts, on an EPA index of 5.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 4,928 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 0.8 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 55% 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). 2.7% of Freetown households have no vehicle (Massachusetts 11.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Freetown’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Freetown is 572nd of 2,806 U.S. towns of 6,600 to 12,700
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 27 | Lincoln MA | 6,925 | $175K | 2.3% | 2.2% | 5% | A+ |
| 28 | Weston MA | 11,729 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.2% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 39 | Norwell MA | 11,546 | $189K | 2.7% | 1.9% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 570 | Fair Oaks Ranch TX | 12,025 | $174K | 2.4% | 5.8% | 2% | A |
| 571 | Pleasant View UT | 11,423 | $129K | 2.4% | 4.0% | 5% | A |
| 572 | Freetown MA | 9,443 | $144K | 3.1% | 4.6% | 11% | A |
| 573 | Gig Harbor WA | 12,630 | $118K | 7.0% | 2.7% | 9% | A |
| 574 | Druid Hills GA | 8,169 | $130K | 9.3% | 3.6% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,806 | 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 Freetown, the top three, the last and three more from Massachusetts.
Freetown and its neighbors: 15% work next door
The biggest share goes to Fall River (10%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Freetown workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Freetown | – | A | C+ | 32 min | $143,884 |
| Berkley | under 2% | A | D | 27 min | $144,205 |
| Acushnet | under 2% | A− | C+ | 28 min | $89,503 |
| Fall River | 10% | C | A | 26 min | $56,673 |
| Lakeville | 5% | A | B+ | 33 min | $133,984 |
| Somerset | under 2% | A | B− | 31 min | $112,677 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Freetown’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 Freetown: questions
What is the median household income in Freetown?
$143,884 (±$14,974) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,960 across Massachusetts and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Freetown?
3.1%, against 10.0% across Massachusetts and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Freetown?
32 minutes each way on average, against 29 across Massachusetts and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Freetown work?
11% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are New Bedford (11%, 9 mi), Fall River (10%, 6 mi), Taunton (6%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Freetown walkable?
Freetown is more walkable than 39% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 5.4 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Freetown without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Freetown, from the people who make the trip.
More of Freetown
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.