Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Household incomes in Ipswich top those of 93% of U.S. towns
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 1.4 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 47.9 in Boston. 5.7% of residents are in poverty; Massachusetts has 10.0%. Ipswich grades A for jobs and income and A− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Ipswich in brief
Ipswich trades workers with the towns around it
Ipswich has about as many jobs (5,482) as working residents (6,306), but they are mostly different people: 5,193 residents leave for work each day while 4,369 people come in. Only 20% of the jobs in Ipswich are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Most jobs in Ipswich pay over $40,000 a year
75% of the jobs based in Ipswich pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), the top earnings band in the Census data. The jobs ↓
Ipswich’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Ipswich is Boston, 27 miles away as the crow flies. 10% of working residents (648) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
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 Ipswich gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Ipswich is better than 94% of U.S. towns, #51 of 283 in Massachusetts. Household income is its strongest input ($138,750, U.S. $80,734); job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 72% of 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, Ipswich could be anywhere from A− to A+.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 5,193 residents head out to work, 1,113 work right here, and 4,369 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 (0.87 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.
30% of the jobs in Ipswich make or build things
5,482 jobs are based in Ipswich.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ipswich, 2013 → 2023: 5,344 → 5,482. 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 Ipswich’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where in the region Ipswich 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.
10% of working residents work in Boston
Where Ipswich clocks in
10% of workers
7% 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.
From Ipswich, about 29 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ipswich workers work from home, vs 19% across Massachusetts. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 6,123 commuters (the 19% 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.
In Ipswich, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Ipswich is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns, #140 of 283 in Massachusetts. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 6.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 14.1% across Massachusetts, on an EPA index of 7.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 7,552 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 22% 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 1.4 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 63% 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). 5.3% of Ipswich households have no vehicle (Massachusetts 11.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of Ipswich’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ipswich next to U.S. towns of 10,000 to 19,000: 245th of 2,227 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 16 | Weston MA | 11,729 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.2% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 21 | Norwell MA | 11,546 | $189K | 2.7% | 1.9% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 26 | Westwood MA | 16,426 | $223K | 4.6% | 1.9% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 243 | Pelham NY | 13,239 | $211K | 2.7% | 5.3% | 8% | A |
| 244 | Sussex WI | 12,779 | $119K | 4.5% | 3.1% | 6% | A |
| 245 | Ipswich MA | 14,131 | $139K | 5.7% | 2.0% | 18% | A |
| 246 | Zeeland Township MI | 12,305 | $114K | 3.1% | 3.1% | 5% | A |
| 247 | Castle Pines CO | 15,583 | $191K | 6.9% | 2.6% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,227 | 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 Ipswich, the top three, the last and three more from Massachusetts.
Next door to Ipswich
The biggest share goes to Gloucester (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Ipswich workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ipswich | – | A | A− | 29 min | $138,750 |
| Essex | under 3% | A | A | 25 min | $157,147 |
| Hamilton | under 3% | A | B+ | 32 min | $129,833 |
| Rowley | 2% | A | B− | 28 min | $132,734 |
| Topsfield | under 3% | A+ | A− | 28 min | $195,718 |
| Gloucester | 3% | B− | A+ | 24 min | $83,883 |
| Boxford | under 3% | A+ | B− | 31 min | $200,871 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Ipswich’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 Ipswich: questions
What is the median household income in Ipswich?
$138,750 (±$15,795) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,960 across Massachusetts and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ipswich?
5.7%, against 10.0% across Massachusetts and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ipswich?
29 minutes each way on average, against 29 across Massachusetts and 26 nationally. 19% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ipswich work?
18% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Boston (10%, 27 mi), Beverly (7%, 10 mi), Danvers (4%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Ipswich walkable?
Ipswich is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.2 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ipswich without a car?
3% 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 Ipswich, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ipswich
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.