Photo: ToddC4176 · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Monterey top those of 95% of U.S. towns
About one in ten stay in Monterey for work; outside it, Great Barrington is the main destination (11%, 6 miles). 4.1% of residents live below the poverty line, against 10.0% across Massachusetts. The two grades for Monterey are 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
The work figures that set Monterey apart
A big share show a job far from home
32% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Commutes from Monterey 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 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 398 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Why Monterey gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty and job access, Monterey is better than 70% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Monterey’s grade up ($152,353, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 8% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate.
Unemployment (9.4%) is left out: Monterey’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Monterey could be anywhere from C− to A−.
How far Monterey goes to work
About 32% 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.
About 23 minutes each way, quicker than most of Massachusetts
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Monterey workers work from home, vs 19% across Massachusetts. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 375 commuters (the 24% 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.
Monterey quiets down on a workday
On a workday 363 residents head out to work, 35 work right here, and 85 people come in from elsewhere.
About 820 people are in Monterey on a workday afternoon, 25% fewer than live here.
0.30 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 the trip to work from Monterey ends
Where Monterey clocks in
11% of workers
6% 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.
In Monterey, services account for most jobs
120 jobs are based in Monterey.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Monterey, 2013 → 2023: 115 → 120. 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 Monterey’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In Monterey, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Monterey is more walkable than 57% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 19.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 14.1% across Massachusetts, on an EPA index of 4.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 491 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% 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 under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 0.0% of Monterey households have no vehicle (Massachusetts 11.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of Monterey’s commuters take a bus or train.
Monterey places 606th of 3,771 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 458 | Blandford MA | 1,212 | $92K | 5.5% | 0.3% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 573 | New Marlborough MA | 1,500 | $117K | 2.5% | 3.5% | 12% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 604 | Unionville TN | 1,275 | $71K | 1.4% | 0.0% | 2% | B+ |
| 605 | Barrackville WV | 1,196 | $79K | 4.1% | 3.7% | 1% | B+ |
| 606 | Monterey MA | 1,093 | $152K | 4.1% | 9.4% | 9% | B+ |
| 607 | Watertown Township OH | 1,472 | $103K | 1.5% | 0.0% | 5% | B+ |
| 608 | Huston Township PA | 1,236 | $109K | 4.3% | 0.0% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 611 | New Braintree MA | 1,013 | $100K | 7.2% | 5.0% | 3% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,771 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Monterey, the top three, the last and three more from Massachusetts.
The towns next door employ 13% of Monterey
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Monterey workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monterey | – | B+ | B | 23 min | $152,353 |
| New Marlborough | under 3% | B+ | B− | 28 min | $117,188 |
| Sandisfield | under 3% | — | — | 31 min | — |
| Tyringham | 2% | — | — | 36 min | — |
| Great Barrington | 11% | C+ | A+ | 22 min | $84,132 |
| Otis | under 3% | A− | B− | 34 min | $108,898 |
Same-state neighbors only. Sandisfield and Tyringham: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Great Barrington. Darker towns draw more of Monterey’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 Monterey: questions
What is the median household income in Monterey?
$152,353 (±$88,894) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,960 across Massachusetts and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Monterey?
4.1%, against 10.0% across Massachusetts and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Monterey?
23 minutes each way on average, against 29 across Massachusetts and 26 nationally. 24% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Monterey work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Great Barrington (11%, 6 mi), Pittsfield (6%, 18 mi), Boston (4%, 113 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Monterey walkable?
Monterey is more walkable than 57% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 4.3 out of 20, and 20% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Monterey without a car?
3% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Monterey, from the people who make the trip.
More of Monterey
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.