Photo: Elkman at en.wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Oak Bluffs has higher household incomes than 94% of U.S. towns
2.2% of residents live below the poverty line (Massachusetts 10.0%). Jobs and income earn Oak Bluffs B−; getting around on foot earns it A. Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 3.4 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 the numbers say about work in Oak Bluffs
Commutes from Oak Bluffs are quick
The average trip to work takes 13 minutes, against 29 across Massachusetts. That’s about 123 hours a year less on the road than the typical Massachusetts worker. Time on the road ↓
Most Oak Bluffs residents work close to home
60% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. How far ↓
Most jobs in Oak Bluffs pay over $40,000 a year
72% of the jobs based in Oak Bluffs pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), the top earnings band in the Census data. The jobs ↓
Oak Bluffs’ workforce skews older
37% of Oak Bluffs’ working residents are 55 or older. 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.
Oak Bluffs’ Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Oak Bluffs is better than 52% of U.S. towns, #240 of 283 in Massachusetts. The poverty rate holds Oak Bluffs’ grade up; unemployment pulls it down (12.6%, 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, Oak Bluffs could be anywhere from C+ to B+.
Commuting from Oak Bluffs: about 13 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Oak Bluffs workers work from home, vs 19% across Massachusetts. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,497 commuters (the 9% 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.
How many miles Oak Bluffs commutes
About 29% 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.
72% of the jobs in Oak Bluffs pay over $3,333 a month
2,024 jobs are based in Oak Bluffs.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Oak Bluffs, 2013 → 2023: 1,731 → 2,024. 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 Oak Bluffs’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily commute in and out of Oak Bluffs
On a workday 1,150 residents head out to work, 462 work right here, and 1,562 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 (1.26 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.
12% of working residents work in Edgartown
Where Oak Bluffs clocks in
12% of workers
6% 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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Oak Bluffs
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,730 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 61% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 30% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 3.4 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 78% 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). 4.5% of Oak Bluffs households have no vehicle (Massachusetts 11.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Oak Bluffs’ commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Oak Bluffs is 1,876th among 3,541 U.S. towns of 3,800 to 7,300
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 38 | Lincoln MA | 6,925 | $175K | 2.3% | 2.2% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 99 | Hopedale MA | 6,066 | $116K | 2.9% | 1.6% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 105 | West Newbury MA | 4,709 | $180K | 1.6% | 2.4% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,874 | Pevely MO | 6,239 | $56K | 17.9% | 1.8% | 4% | B− |
| 1,875 | Edinboro PA | 5,790 | $48K | 20.5% | 0.4% | 13% | B− |
| 1,876 | Oak Bluffs MA | 5,428 | $145K | 2.2% | 12.6% | 29% | B− |
| 1,877 | Lindsborg KS | 3,824 | $81K | 6.8% | 4.6% | 29% | B− |
| 1,878 | Golf Manor OH | 3,810 | $45K | 13.6% | 2.6% | 2% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,541 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Oak Bluffs, the top three, the last and three more from Massachusetts.
The towns next door employ 23% of Oak Bluffs
The biggest share goes to Edgartown (12%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Oak Bluffs workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oak Bluffs | – | B− | A | 13 min | $145,196 |
| Edgartown | 12% | B | A+ | 12 min | $125,236 |
| Tisbury | 11% | B | A+ | 21 min | $74,113 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Oak Bluffs’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 Oak Bluffs: questions
What is the median household income in Oak Bluffs?
$145,196 (±$37,475) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,960 across Massachusetts and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Oak Bluffs?
2.2%, against 10.0% across Massachusetts and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Oak Bluffs?
13 minutes each way on average, against 29 across Massachusetts and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Oak Bluffs work?
29% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Edgartown (12%, 7 mi), Tisbury (11%, 3 mi), Boston (6%, 65 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Oak Bluffs walkable?
Oak Bluffs is more walkable than 94% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 11.8 out of 20, and 9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Oak Bluffs without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 30% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Oak Bluffs, from the people who make the trip.
More of Oak Bluffs
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.