Photo: Jameslwoodward · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Milton earn more than those in 98% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 4.7% of residents (Massachusetts 10.0%). Jobs and income earn Milton A; getting around on foot earns it A+. Home is the office for 30% of workers, 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
What sets Milton apart on work
Much of Milton works one town over
46% of working residents work in a town that borders Milton: Boston (41%) and Quincy (5%). Next door ↓
Most Milton residents work close to home
73% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about three in four. Only 4% work more than 50 miles away. How far ↓
Home offices are common in Milton
30% of Milton workers work from home, against 19% across Massachusetts. Time on the road ↓
Short distances, slow trips
Half of Milton’s working residents have a job less than 7 miles away, yet the average commute still takes 31 minutes, longer than the Massachusetts average of 29. Time on the road ↓
Three in four Milton workers earn over $40,000 a year
77% of Milton’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, the top earnings band in the Census data. 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.
Inside Milton’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Milton is better than 92% of U.S. towns, #68 of 283 in Massachusetts. Household income holds Milton’s grade up ($188,529, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down (4.8%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Milton could be anywhere from A− to A+.
Near or far: the trip to work from Milton
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.
About 31 minutes each way for Milton’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Milton workers work from home, vs 19% across Massachusetts. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 9,969 commuters (the 30% 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.
Milton is a services town
5,880 jobs are based in Milton.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Milton, 2013 → 2023: 5,086 → 5,880. 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 Milton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A workday in Milton: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 12,487 residents head out to work, 1,146 work right here, and 4,734 people come in from elsewhere.
About 21,000 people are in Milton on a workday afternoon, 27% fewer than live here.
0.43 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.
41% of working residents work in Boston
Where Milton clocks in
41% 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.
Milton is more walkable than 97% of U.S. towns
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 14,174 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 95% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 49% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 18.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 97% 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). 5.6% of Milton households have no vehicle (Massachusetts 11.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 11% of Milton’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Milton is 198th of 1,467 U.S. towns of 20,000 to 39,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 34 | Hingham MA | 24,481 | $178K | 4.3% | 2.4% | 13% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 37 | Lexington MA | 34,648 | $238K | 4.7% | 2.9% | 11% | A+ |
| 38 | Reading MA | 25,803 | $166K | 3.2% | 3.3% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 196 | Lemont Township IL | 23,223 | $121K | 3.9% | 4.5% | 11% | A |
| 197 | Maryland Heights MO | 27,559 | $86K | 4.7% | 2.5% | 11% | A |
| 198 | Milton MA | 28,537 | $189K | 4.7% | 4.8% | 8% | A |
| 199 | Tredyffrin Township PA | 31,818 | $162K | 5.0% | 4.4% | 12% | A |
| 200 | Whitemarsh Township PA | 20,198 | $149K | 3.8% | 5.0% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,467 | Barstow CA | 24,804 | $53K | 23.1% | 11.9% | 17% | 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 Milton, the top three, the last and three more from Massachusetts.
The towns next door employ 46% of Milton
The biggest share goes to Boston (41%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Milton workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Milton | – | A | A+ | 31 min | $188,529 |
| Boston | 41% | B | A+ | 30 min | $97,344 |
| Randolph Town | under 2% | B+ | A+ | 37 min | $109,573 |
| Quincy | 5% | B | A+ | 35 min | $98,882 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Milton’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 Milton: questions
What is the median household income in Milton?
$188,529 (±$14,505) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,960 across Massachusetts and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Milton?
4.7%, against 10.0% across Massachusetts and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Milton?
31 minutes each way on average, against 29 across Massachusetts and 26 nationally. 30% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Milton work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Boston (41%, 7 mi), Cambridge (5%, 10 mi), Quincy (5%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Milton walkable?
Milton is more walkable than 97% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 12.6 out of 20, and 16% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Milton without a car?
11% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 49% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Milton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Milton
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.