Photo: Kenneth C. Zirkel · CC BY 4.0At 8.6%, unemployment in Orange is higher than in 91% of U.S. towns
Working from home is the commute for 7% of workers, against 19% across Massachusetts. The two grades for Orange are D for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. Household incomes here are lower than in 80% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Orange
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Orange is better than 8% of U.S. towns, #283 of 283 in Massachusetts. Job access by car holds Orange’s grade up (ahead of 27% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Orange could be anywhere from D− to C.
Who leaves Orange for work, and who comes in
On a workday 3,024 residents head out to work, 417 work right here, and 1,291 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,800 people are in Orange on a workday afternoon, 23% fewer than live here.
0.50 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.
13% of working residents work in Athol
Where Orange clocks in
13% 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.
The kinds of work in Orange
1,708 jobs are based in Orange.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Orange, 2013 → 2023: 1,712 → 1,708. 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 Orange’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 33 minutes each way for Orange’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Orange workers work from home, vs 19% across Massachusetts. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,000 commuters (the 7% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Orange
About 17% 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.
Most trips from Orange start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Orange is more walkable than 72% of U.S. towns, #151 of 283 in Massachusetts. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 14.1% across Massachusetts.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 3,211 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 63% 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 2.5 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 72% 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). 11.1% of Orange households have no vehicle (Massachusetts 11.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Orange’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Orange compares with U.S. towns of 5,300 to 10,200
| # | 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 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 34 | Lincoln MA | 6,925 | $175K | 2.3% | 2.2% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 88 | Georgetown MA | 8,577 | $152K | 3.8% | 1.7% | 8% | A+ |
| 89 | Hopedale MA | 6,066 | $116K | 2.9% | 1.6% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,936 | Benson AZ | 5,532 | $49K | 12.1% | 8.7% | 25% | D |
| 2,937 | Monticello NY | 7,195 | $51K | 29.7% | 8.6% | 19% | D |
| 2,938 | Orange MA | 7,569 | $56K | 22.4% | 8.6% | 12% | D |
| 2,939 | Homeland Park SC | 6,632 | $40K | 36.2% | 15.3% | 2% | D |
| 2,940 | Brownsville TN | 9,301 | $43K | 25.7% | 8.6% | 37% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,071 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Orange, the top three, the last and three more from Massachusetts.
Bordering towns draw 13% of Orange’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Orange workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orange | – | D | B+ | 33 min | $55,824 |
| Athol | 13% | C− | A | 27 min | $69,316 |
| Wendell | under 2% | — | — | 33 min | — |
| Warwick | under 2% | — | — | 40 min | — |
| Royalston | under 2% | B− | D− | 38 min | $102,109 |
| Erving | under 2% | B− | C+ | 28 min | $77,656 |
| New Salem | under 2% | C+ | C+ | 23 min | $79,688 |
Same-state neighbors only. Wendell and Warwick: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Athol. Darker towns draw more of Orange’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 Orange: questions
What is the median household income in Orange?
$55,824 (±$9,852) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,960 across Massachusetts and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Orange?
22.4%, against 10.0% across Massachusetts and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Orange?
33 minutes each way on average, against 29 across Massachusetts and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Orange work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Athol (13%, 4 mi), Gardner (5%, 16 mi), Worcester (5%, 34 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Orange walkable?
Orange is more walkable than 72% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.8 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Orange without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Orange, from the people who make the trip.
More of Orange
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.