Photo: T.S. Custadio aka ToddC4176 at en.wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Harwich has higher household incomes than 74% of U.S. towns
About one in seven stay in Harwich for work; outside it, Barnstable Town is the main destination (13%, 15 miles). The poverty rate is 4.9%, against 10.0% across Massachusetts. Harwich grades B 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
Jobs and commuting in Harwich: the gist
A lot of Harwich works one town over
26% of working residents work in a town that borders Harwich: Chatham (11%), Dennis (6%) and Orleans (5%). Next door ↓
Harwich’s workforce skews older
37% of Harwich’s working residents are 55 or older. 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.
Why Harwich gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Harwich is better than 64% of U.S. towns, #209 of 283 in Massachusetts. The poverty rate holds Harwich’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 39% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Harwich could be anywhere from B− to A−.
The kinds of work in Harwich
3,704 jobs are based in Harwich.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Harwich, 2013 → 2023: 3,335 → 3,704. 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 Harwich’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A workday in Harwich: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 4,663 residents head out to work, 949 work right here, and 2,755 people come in from elsewhere.
About 12,000 people are in Harwich on a workday afternoon, 14% fewer than live here.
0.66 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.
Where Harwich goes to work
Where Harwich clocks in
13% of workers
11% 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 25 minutes to work from Harwich
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Harwich workers work from home, vs 19% across Massachusetts. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,707 commuters (the 17% 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 Harwich, by distance
About 27% 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.
In Harwich, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Harwich is more walkable than 62% of U.S. towns, #185 of 283 in Massachusetts. Both inputs place Harwich near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 6,899 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 12% 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 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). 3.5% of Harwich households have no vehicle (Massachusetts 11.7%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Harwich’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Harwich is 999th of 2,059 U.S. towns of 10,000 to 18,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 15 | Weston MA | 11,729 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.2% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 20 | Norwell MA | 11,546 | $189K | 2.7% | 1.9% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | Westwood MA | 16,426 | $223K | 4.6% | 1.9% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 997 | Tucson Estates AZ | 12,136 | $67K | 7.8% | 2.4% | 3% | B |
| 998 | Ashwaubenon WI | 17,398 | $70K | 11.6% | 2.8% | 21% | B |
| 999 | Harwich MA | 13,635 | $97K | 4.9% | 4.7% | 17% | B |
| 1,000 | Hanover NH | 12,054 | $170K | 5.6% | 6.7% | 34% | B |
| 1,001 | Avocado Heights CA | 12,593 | $92K | 11.5% | 5.9% | 3% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 2,059 | 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 Harwich, the top three, the last and three more from Massachusetts.
Next door is work for 26% of Harwich
The biggest share goes to Chatham (11%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Harwich workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harwich | – | B | B | 25 min | $96,966 |
| Chatham | 11% | B− | A− | 24 min | $85,167 |
| Brewster | 4% | C+ | A− | 21 min | $103,317 |
| Dennis | 6% | B | B+ | 24 min | $88,154 |
| Dennis Port | under 2% | — | — | 31 min | — |
| Orleans | 5% | B | B+ | 22 min | $102,335 |
Same-state neighbors only. Dennis Port: 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 Harwich’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 Harwich: questions
What is the median household income in Harwich?
$96,966 (±$12,559) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,960 across Massachusetts and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Harwich?
4.9%, against 10.0% across Massachusetts and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Harwich?
25 minutes each way on average, against 29 across Massachusetts and 26 nationally. 17% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Harwich work?
17% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Barnstable Town (13%, 15 mi), Chatham (11%, 8 mi), Dennis (6%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Harwich walkable?
Harwich is more walkable than 62% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.9 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Harwich without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Harwich, from the people who make the trip.
More of Harwich
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.