Photo: ToddC4176 · CC BY-SA 3.0Most of Hinsdale commutes out: there are 0.2 jobs for every working resident
Jobs and income earn Hinsdale B−; getting around on foot earns it B+. Employers in Hinsdale report 194 jobs, against 842 working residents. For 8% of workers, the job is at home, next to 19% for Massachusetts as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Hinsdale and work: the main findings
Hinsdale and Pittsfield trade workers both ways
Pittsfield is the top workplace for Hinsdale residents (40%) and also where the most people who work in Hinsdale come from (27% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Hinsdale is a place people come home to
There are 194 jobs based in Hinsdale, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Hinsdale has about 1,200 people in it, 34% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Hinsdale are quick
The average trip to work takes 23 minutes, against 29 across Massachusetts. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical Massachusetts worker. Time on the road ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 842 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Hinsdale
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Hinsdale is better than 55% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Hinsdale’s grade up (3.1%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 28% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Hinsdale could be anywhere from C to A−.
40% of working residents work in Pittsfield
Where Hinsdale clocks in
40% of workers
8% 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.
Who works in Hinsdale, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 813 residents head out to work, 29 work right here, and 165 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,200 people are in Hinsdale on a workday afternoon, 34% 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 2024, primary jobs.
From Hinsdale, about 23 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Hinsdale workers work from home, vs 19% across Massachusetts. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 887 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.
What Hinsdale’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Hinsdale, 2014 → 2024: 293 → 194. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Hinsdale’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Hinsdale’s commute, mile by mile
About 18% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
In Hinsdale, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Hinsdale is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 14.1% across Massachusetts, on an EPA index of 7.1.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 961 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 30% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 30% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 62% 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). 1.7% of Hinsdale households have no vehicle (Massachusetts 11.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Hinsdale’s commuters take a bus or train.
Hinsdale places 1,947th of 5,656 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,500
| # | 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% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 577 | Whately MA | 1,622 | $117K | 5.4% | 4.7% | 6% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 666 | Williamsburg MA | 2,445 | $105K | 2.3% | 3.7% | 5% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 693 | Otis MA | 1,610 | $109K | 1.2% | 6.2% | 8% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,945 | New Beaver PA | 1,343 | $61K | 6.6% | 3.5% | 6% | B− |
| 1,946 | Jefferson Township IN | 2,291 | $58K | 6.7% | 0.5% | 2% | B− |
| 1,947 | Hinsdale MA | 1,880 | $78K | 3.1% | 5.0% | 3% | B− |
| 1,948 | Colfax Township MI | 2,036 | $88K | 8.1% | 2.8% | 2% | B− |
| 1,949 | Pound WI | 1,435 | $84K | 7.2% | 3.4% | 3% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,656 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 7% | 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 Hinsdale, the top three, the last and three more from Massachusetts.
10% of Hinsdale works in a town next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Hinsdale workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hinsdale | – | B− | B+ | 23 min | $77,845 |
| Peru | 2% | — | — | 31 min | — |
| Dalton | 8% | C+ | B | 22 min | $79,438 |
| Washington | under 2% | — | — | 25 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Peru and Washington: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Dalton. Darker towns draw more of Hinsdale’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 2024, 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 Hinsdale: questions
What is the median household income in Hinsdale?
$77,845 (±$17,199) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,960 across Massachusetts and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Hinsdale?
3.1%, against 10.0% across Massachusetts and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Hinsdale?
23 minutes each way on average, against 29 across Massachusetts and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Hinsdale work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Pittsfield (40%, 8 mi), Dalton (8%, 4 mi), Lenox (6%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Hinsdale walkable?
Hinsdale is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.1 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Hinsdale without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 30% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Hinsdale, from the people who make the trip.
More of Hinsdale
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.