Photo: Fletcher6 · CC BY-SA 3.0Hamilton’s household incomes are higher than in 91% of U.S. towns
Home is the office for 26% of workers (Massachusetts 19%). 7.8% of residents live below the poverty line (Massachusetts 10.0%). Hamilton grades A for jobs and income and B+ for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Hamilton: the figures worth knowing
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Hamilton
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Hamilton is better than 88% of U.S. towns, #92 of 283 in Massachusetts. Household income is its strongest input ($129,833, U.S. $80,734); the poverty rate ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns. It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Hamilton could be anywhere from B+ to A+.
Health, schools and offices: most of the jobs in Hamilton
1,335 jobs are based in Hamilton.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Hamilton, 2013 → 2023: 1,365 → 1,335. 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 Hamilton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily commute in and out of Hamilton
On a workday 3,126 residents head out to work, 176 work right here, and 1,159 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,700 people are in Hamilton on a workday afternoon, 26% fewer than live here.
0.40 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.
20% of working residents work in Boston
Where Hamilton clocks in
20% of workers
12% of workers
4% 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.
About 32 minutes to work from Hamilton
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Hamilton workers work from home, vs 19% across Massachusetts. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,719 commuters (the 26% 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.
Where in the region Hamilton works
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.
In Hamilton, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Hamilton is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns, #167 of 283 in Massachusetts. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 7.9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 14.1% across Massachusetts, on an EPA index of 6.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 3,689 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 9% 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 0.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 46% 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). 0.7% of Hamilton households have no vehicle (Massachusetts 11.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 5% of Hamilton’s commuters take a bus or train.
Hamilton next to U.S. towns of 5,400 to 10,400: 479th of 3,051 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 32 | Lincoln MA | 6,925 | $175K | 2.3% | 2.2% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 87 | Georgetown MA | 8,577 | $152K | 3.8% | 1.7% | 8% | A+ |
| 88 | Hopedale MA | 6,066 | $116K | 2.9% | 1.6% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 477 | Justin TX | 7,285 | $114K | 0.2% | 5.5% | 2% | A |
| 478 | Grant Township KS | 5,743 | $95K | 3.3% | 3.1% | 2% | A |
| 479 | Hamilton MA | 7,674 | $130K | 7.8% | 3.0% | 5% | A |
| 480 | Longboat Key FL | 7,359 | $158K | 5.1% | 1.8% | 13% | A |
| 481 | Shorewood MN | 7,620 | $171K | 5.2% | 5.0% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,051 | 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 Hamilton, the top three, the last and three more from Massachusetts.
Next door to Hamilton
The biggest share goes to Ipswich (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Hamilton workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hamilton | – | A | B+ | 32 min | $129,833 |
| Ipswich | 3% | A | A− | 29 min | $138,750 |
| Topsfield | under 3% | A+ | A− | 28 min | $195,718 |
| Essex | under 3% | A | A | 25 min | $157,147 |
| Wenham | 2% | A+ | B+ | 28 min | $194,781 |
| Manchester-by-the-Sea | under 3% | A− | A | 30 min | $206,389 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Hamilton’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 Hamilton: questions
What is the median household income in Hamilton?
$129,833 (±$14,498) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,960 across Massachusetts and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Hamilton?
7.8%, against 10.0% across Massachusetts and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Hamilton?
32 minutes each way on average, against 29 across Massachusetts and 26 nationally. 26% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Hamilton work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Boston (20%, 22 mi), Beverly (12%, 5 mi), Danvers (4%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Hamilton walkable?
Hamilton is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 6.3 out of 20, and 8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Hamilton without a car?
5% 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 Hamilton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Hamilton
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.