Photo: The original uploader was Bobak at English Wikipedia. · CC BY-SA 2.5Nantucket has higher household incomes than 93% of U.S. towns
3.2% of residents live below the poverty line, against 10.0% across Massachusetts. For jobs and income Nantucket is better than 68% of U.S. towns (B+); for walkability it is more walkable than 98% of U.S. towns (A+). Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 8.2 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 47.9 in Boston.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Nantucket
Most jobs in Nantucket go to people who live here
Of the 5,917 jobs based in Nantucket, 76% are held by Nantucket residents. In most towns, people from elsewhere hold most of the local jobs. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Nantucket are quick
The average trip to work takes 16 minutes, against 29 across Massachusetts. That’s about 100 hours a year less on the road than the typical Massachusetts worker. Time on the road ↓
Most jobs in Nantucket pay over $40,000 a year
78% of the jobs based in Nantucket pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), the top earnings band in the Census data. The jobs ↓
Nantucket has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Nantucket went from 4,320 in 2013 to 5,917 in 2023, +37%. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
The figures behind Nantucket’s Jobs & income grade
Household income holds Nantucket’s grade up ($139,688, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 12% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Nantucket could be anywhere from B− to A.
Nantucket on a workday afternoon
On a workday 2,155 residents head out to work, 4,512 work right here, and 1,405 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 (0.89 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.
The daily trip from Nantucket: about 16 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Nantucket workers work from home, vs 19% across Massachusetts. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 7,046 commuters (the 13% 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.
78% of the jobs in Nantucket pay over $3,333 a month
5,917 jobs are based in Nantucket.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Nantucket, 2013 → 2023: 4,320 → 5,917. 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 Nantucket’s own residents hold wherever they work.
5% of working residents work in Boston
Where Nantucket clocks in
5% of workers
2% of workers
1% 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.
How far Nantucket’s workers travel
About 26% 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.
Nantucket is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 8,095 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, 42% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 8.2 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 91% 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). 3.5% of Nantucket households have no vehicle (Massachusetts 11.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Nantucket’s commuters take a bus or train.
Nantucket is 1,084th of 2,362 U.S. towns of 10,000 to 20,000 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 17 | Weston MA | 11,729 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.2% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 22 | Norwell MA | 11,546 | $189K | 2.7% | 1.9% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 28 | Westwood MA | 16,426 | $223K | 4.6% | 1.9% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,082 | Hollins VA | 17,097 | $77K | 8.8% | 3.4% | 10% | B+ |
| 1,083 | Fairburn GA | 17,133 | $92K | 17.5% | 3.2% | 5% | B+ |
| 1,084 | Nantucket MA | 14,758 | $140K | 3.2% | 4.3% | 68% | B+ |
| 1,085 | Oxford MA | 13,514 | $104K | 7.7% | 5.8% | 9% | B+ |
| 1,086 | New Richmond WI | 10,988 | $88K | 10.5% | 2.9% | 18% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,362 | 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 Nantucket, the top three, the last and three more from Massachusetts.
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 Nantucket: questions
What is the median household income in Nantucket?
$139,688 (±$16,786) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,960 across Massachusetts and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Nantucket?
3.2%, against 10.0% across Massachusetts and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Nantucket?
16 minutes each way on average, against 29 across Massachusetts and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Nantucket work?
68% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Boston (5%, 86 mi), Barnstable Town (2%, 29 mi), New Bedford (1%, 50 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Nantucket walkable?
Nantucket is more walkable than 98% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 14.0 out of 20, and 13% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Nantucket without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 42% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Nantucket, from the people who make the trip.
More of Nantucket
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.