Photo: John Phelan · CC BY 3.0Most of Malden commutes out: there are 0.4 jobs for every working resident
Household incomes here are higher than in 77% of U.S. towns. 12,716 jobs are based in Malden, against 30,924 working residents. For jobs and income Malden is better than 69% of U.S. towns (B+); for walkability it is among the most walkable U.S. towns (A+).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Malden, in brief
Most Malden residents work close to home
75% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about three in four. Only 3% work more than 50 miles away. How far ↓
Short distances, slow trips
Half of Malden’s working residents have a job less than 6 miles away, yet the average commute still takes 34 minutes, longer than the Massachusetts average of 29. Time on the road ↓
One in three of Malden works in Boston
10,505 working residents, 34%, have their main job in Boston, 7.1 miles away. That’s 5 times as many as work in Malden itself. The commute map ↓
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.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Malden
Job access by car holds Malden’s grade up (ahead of 97% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (5.4%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Malden could be anywhere from B to A−.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Malden
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.
A commute of about 34 minutes in Malden
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Malden workers work from home, vs 19% across Massachusetts. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 29,549 commuters (the 20% 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.
34% of working residents work in Boston
Where Malden clocks in
34% of workers
8% of workers
3% 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.
The workday shuffle in and out of Malden
On a workday 28,803 residents head out to work, 2,121 work right here, and 10,595 people come in from elsewhere.
About 48,000 people are in Malden on a workday afternoon, 27% 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.
The kinds of work in Malden
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Malden, 2013 → 2023: 13,083 → 12,716. 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 Malden’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Malden is among the most walkable U.S. towns
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Malden is among the most walkable U.S. towns, #6 of 283 in Massachusetts. Both inputs place Malden 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 36,851 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 80% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 23.8 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 98% 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). 17.5% of Malden households have no vehicle (Massachusetts 11.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 23% of Malden’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Malden is 318th among 680 U.S. towns of 46,000 to 90,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | Arlington MA | 46,563 | $151K | 5.4% | 2.9% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 102 | Somerville MA | 84,211 | $133K | 9.8% | 3.0% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 108 | Brookline MA | 63,414 | $142K | 8.7% | 3.6% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 316 | San Luis Obispo CA | 50,636 | $74K | 30.4% | 7.0% | 39% | B+ |
| 317 | Kettering OH | 57,396 | $75K | 8.3% | 3.8% | 14% | B+ |
| 318 | Malden MA | 66,370 | $101K | 11.4% | 5.4% | 7% | B+ |
| 319 | Towson MD | 58,679 | $101K | 12.1% | 4.8% | 14% | B+ |
| 320 | Spring TX | 68,580 | $89K | 10.4% | 4.8% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 680 | Pahrump NV | 47,347 | $62K | 13.7% | 8.5% | 28% | 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 Malden, the top three, the last and three more from Massachusetts.
How Malden compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Medford (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Malden’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 Malden: questions
What is the median household income in Malden?
$100,606 (±$6,482) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,960 across Massachusetts and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Malden?
11.4%, against 10.0% across Massachusetts and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Malden?
34 minutes each way on average, against 29 across Massachusetts and 26 nationally. 20% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Malden work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Boston (34%, 7 mi), Cambridge (8%, 5 mi), Somerville (3%, 3 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Malden walkable?
Malden is among the most walkable U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 15.1 out of 20, and 28% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Malden without a car?
23% of commuters take transit and 18% of households have no car. 80% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Malden, from the people who make the trip.
More of Malden
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.