Photo: Rehua · CC BY-SA 4.0Unemployment in Gardner (7.0%) is higher than in 82% of U.S. towns
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 2.8 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 8.4 in Worcester. For jobs and income Gardner is better than 29% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 89% of U.S. towns (A). About one in five work in Gardner itself; outside it, Fitchburg draws the most (7%, 9 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Gardner, in a few figures
Inside Gardner’s Jobs & income grade
Job access by car holds Gardner’s grade up (ahead of 53% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Gardner could be anywhere from C− to B−.
Commuting out of Gardner: the destinations
Where Gardner clocks in
7% of workers
6% 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.
Who leaves Gardner for work, and who comes in
On a workday 7,542 residents head out to work, 1,626 work right here, and 6,082 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 (0.84 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 Gardner: what the 7,708 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Gardner, 2013 → 2023: 7,496 → 7,708. 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 Gardner’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Gardner’s commute takes about 31 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Gardner workers work from home, vs 19% across Massachusetts. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 8,170 commuters (the 13% 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.
The commute from Gardner, by distance
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.
Gardner is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 9,426 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 78% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 6% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 2.8 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 74% 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). 11.1% of Gardner households have no vehicle (Massachusetts 11.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Gardner’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 1,787 U.S. towns of 15,000 to 29,000, Gardner comes 1,480th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Wolf Trap VA | 15,858 | $250K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 12 | Westwood MA | 16,426 | $223K | 4.6% | 1.9% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 22 | Hopkinton MA | 19,866 | $223K | 2.5% | 2.3% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 53 | Hingham MA | 24,481 | $178K | 4.3% | 2.4% | 13% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,478 | East Hemet CA | 20,257 | $82K | 18.8% | 7.6% | 4% | C |
| 1,479 | Lemoore CA | 27,291 | $84K | 15.1% | 13.1% | 15% | C |
| 1,480 | Gardner MA | 21,483 | $68K | 13.7% | 7.0% | 18% | C |
| 1,481 | Hope Mills NC | 18,324 | $66K | 14.1% | 8.2% | 5% | C |
| 1,482 | Albert Lea MN | 18,217 | $65K | 12.8% | 5.7% | 54% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 1,787 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Gardner, the top three, the last and three more from Massachusetts.
Gardner and its neighbors
The biggest share goes to Westminster (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Gardner workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gardner | – | C | A | 31 min | $67,518 |
| Templeton | 1% | C+ | C+ | 28 min | $101,154 |
| Ashburnham | under 2% | B+ | C | 32 min | $118,809 |
| Westminster | 2% | A | C | 27 min | $106,331 |
| South Ashburnham | under 2% | — | — | 29 min | — |
| Winchendon | under 2% | C− | B+ | 32 min | $75,690 |
| Hubbardston | under 2% | A− | D | 36 min | $123,500 |
Same-state neighbors only. South Ashburnham: a Census-designated place inside a larger town, graded as part of it. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Gardner’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 Gardner: questions
What is the median household income in Gardner?
$67,518 (±$8,165) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,960 across Massachusetts and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Gardner?
13.7%, against 10.0% across Massachusetts and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Gardner?
31 minutes each way on average, against 29 across Massachusetts and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Gardner work?
18% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Fitchburg (7%, 9 mi), Leominster (6%, 12 mi), Boston (5%, 53 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Gardner walkable?
Gardner is more walkable than 89% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 11.2 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Gardner without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. 6% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Gardner, from the people who make the trip.
More of Gardner
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.