Photo: ToddC4176 · CC BY-SA 3.0Most of Otis commutes out: there are 0.6 jobs for every working resident
Household incomes here are higher than in 83% of U.S. towns. Otis has 348 jobs, and 630 of its residents work somewhere. For jobs and income Otis is better than 80% of U.S. towns (A−); for walkability it is more walkable than 49% of U.S. towns (B−).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Otis
Otis’ workforce skews older
41% of Otis’ working residents are 55 or older. That’s about two in five. The jobs ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Otis
59% of Otis residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 41% of the jobs based in Otis pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 90% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Otis workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 34 minutes each way, against 29 across Massachusetts. Over a year that’s about 261 hours of commuting, 38 more than the state’s typical 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 630 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Otis
The poverty rate holds Otis’ grade up (1.2%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 29% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (6.2%) is left out: Otis’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Otis stays A−.
What Otis’ employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Otis, 2013 → 2023: 238 → 348. 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 Otis’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Time on the road from Otis: about 34 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Otis workers work from home, vs 19% across Massachusetts. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 696 commuters (the 22% 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.
Who leaves Otis for work, and who comes in
On a workday 564 residents head out to work, 66 work right here, and 282 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,300 people are in Otis on a workday afternoon, 18% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
8% of working residents work in Great Barrington
Where Otis clocks in
8% of workers
7% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Otis
About 23% 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 of Otis commutes by car
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 3.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 14.1% across Massachusetts, on an EPA index of 6.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 896 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). 0.9% of Otis households have no vehicle (Massachusetts 11.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of Otis’ commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Otis is 673rd of 6,161 U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,200
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 566 | Whately MA | 1,622 | $117K | 5.4% | 4.7% | 6% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 671 | Prairie City IA | 1,724 | $78K | 3.4% | 6.4% | 4% | A− |
| 672 | Sedgwick KS | 1,575 | $93K | 5.9% | 0.4% | 3% | A− |
| 673 | Otis MA | 1,610 | $109K | 1.2% | 6.2% | 10% | A− |
| 674 | Lofall WA | 1,800 | $114K | 0.8% | 5.3% | <1% | A− |
| 675 | Kamas UT | 2,086 | $97K | 2.3% | 0.5% | 17% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 710 | Wales MA | 1,833 | $89K | 5.1% | 5.5% | 3% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 754 | Westhampton MA | 1,618 | $100K | 6.5% | 7.7% | 4% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 6,161 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 Otis, the top three, the last and three more from Massachusetts.
Otis and the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Sandisfield (6%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Otis workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Otis | – | A− | B− | 34 min | $108,898 |
| Becket | under 3% | C+ | C+ | 36 min | $80,417 |
| Tolland | under 3% | — | — | 38 min | — |
| Sandisfield | 6% | — | — | 31 min | — |
| Tyringham | under 3% | — | — | 36 min | — |
| Monterey | under 3% | B+ | B | 23 min | $152,353 |
Same-state neighbors only. Tolland, Sandisfield and Tyringham: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Otis’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 Otis: questions
What is the median household income in Otis?
$108,898 (±$5,921) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,960 across Massachusetts and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Otis?
1.2%, against 10.0% across Massachusetts and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Otis?
34 minutes each way on average, against 29 across Massachusetts and 26 nationally. 22% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Otis work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Great Barrington (8%, 13 mi), Pittsfield (7%, 19 mi), Sandisfield (6%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Otis walkable?
Otis is more walkable than 49% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 6.0 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Otis without a car?
3% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Otis, from the people who make the trip.
More of Otis
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.