Photo: en:User:LymanSchool (Richard B. Johnson) · CC BY-SA 3.0Hardwick has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.4 for each
Hardwick has 488 jobs, and 1,158 of its residents work somewhere. For jobs and income Hardwick is better than 41% of U.S. towns (C+); for walkability it is more walkable than 31% of U.S. towns (C). 9% of workers work from home, next to 19% for Massachusetts as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The figures behind Hardwick’s Jobs & income grade
All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Hardwick’s grade.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Hardwick could be anywhere from D to A−.
In and out of Hardwick on a workday
On a workday 1,062 residents head out to work, 96 work right here, and 392 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,100 people are in Hardwick on a workday afternoon, 24% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
10% of working residents work in Worcester
Where Hardwick clocks in
10% 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.
Jobs in Hardwick: what the 488 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Hardwick, 2013 → 2023: 381 → 488. 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 Hardwick’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 31 minutes to work from Hardwick
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Hardwick workers work from home, vs 19% across Massachusetts. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,114 commuters (the 9% 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 far Hardwick goes to work
About 17% 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.
Driving is how Hardwick gets around
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 2.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 14.1% across Massachusetts, on an EPA index of 5.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,220 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). 5.0% of Hardwick households have no vehicle (Massachusetts 11.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Hardwick’s commuters take a bus or train.
2,779th of 4,969: where Hardwick ranks among U.S. towns of 1,900 to 3,700
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 145 | Princeton MA | 3,618 | $159K | 4.2% | 0.4% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 236 | Millville MA | 3,186 | $127K | 4.6% | 3.0% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 432 | Dunstable MA | 3,486 | $209K | 0.5% | 5.6% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,777 | Orchidlands Estates HI | 3,027 | $74K | 13.9% | 1.8% | 1% | C+ |
| 2,778 | North Sioux City SD | 3,036 | $72K | 11.0% | 5.1% | 22% | C+ |
| 2,779 | Hardwick MA | 2,736 | $75K | 11.0% | 4.7% | 8% | C+ |
| 2,780 | Easton Township MI | 3,136 | $76K | 5.7% | 14.7% | 1% | C+ |
| 2,781 | Pleasant Township OH | 1,924 | $65K | 6.6% | 3.3% | 6% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,969 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 12% | 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 Hardwick, the top three, the last and three more from Massachusetts.
The towns around Hardwick
The biggest share goes to Ware (5%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Hardwick workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hardwick | – | C+ | C | 31 min | $75,000 |
| New Braintree | 3% | B+ | D | 37 min | $99,500 |
| Petersham | under 2% | B | D | 39 min | $110,750 |
| Ware | 5% | C | B+ | 28 min | $67,475 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Hardwick’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 Hardwick: questions
What is the median household income in Hardwick?
$75,000 (±$21,953) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,960 across Massachusetts and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Hardwick?
11.0%, against 10.0% across Massachusetts and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Hardwick?
31 minutes each way on average, against 29 across Massachusetts and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Hardwick work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Worcester (10%, 22 mi), Ware (5%, 6 mi), Barre (5%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Hardwick walkable?
Hardwick is more walkable than 31% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 5.3 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Hardwick without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Hardwick, from the people who make the trip.
More of Hardwick
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.