Photo: John Phelan · CC BY-SA 4.0Most of Pelham commutes out: there are 0.3 jobs for every working resident
Household incomes here are higher than in 86% of U.S. towns. 151 jobs are based in Pelham, against 559 working residents. The two grades for Pelham are B+ for jobs and income and C+ for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Pelham
Pelham is a place people come home to
There are 151 jobs based in Pelham, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Pelham has about 900 people in it, 31% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Home offices are common in Pelham
33% of Pelham workers work from home, against 19% across Massachusetts. Time on the road ↓
Commutes from Pelham 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 559 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Pelham
On income, poverty and job access, Pelham is better than 66% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Pelham’s grade up ($113,750, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 47% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (6.6%) is left out: Pelham’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Pelham could be anywhere from B− to A−.
The workday shuffle in and out of Pelham
On a workday 555 residents head out to work, 4 work right here, and 147 people come in from elsewhere.
About 900 people are in Pelham on a workday afternoon, 31% 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.
Each way, about 23 minutes from Pelham
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Pelham workers work from home, vs 19% across Massachusetts. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 408 commuters (the 33% 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.
13% of working residents work in Springfield
Where Pelham clocks in
13% of workers
13% of workers
11% 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 Pelham
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Pelham, 2013 → 2023: 123 → 151. 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 Pelham’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute from Pelham, by distance
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.
For most of Pelham, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Pelham is more walkable than 37% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 14.1% across Massachusetts, on an EPA index of 4.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 607 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 4.7 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 83% 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). 3.7% of Pelham households have no vehicle (Massachusetts 11.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Pelham’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Pelham is 1,128th of 5,400 U.S. towns of 900 to 1,800
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 435 | Whately MA | 1,622 | $117K | 5.4% | 4.7% | 6% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 524 | Otis MA | 1,610 | $109K | 1.2% | 6.2% | 10% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 588 | Westhampton MA | 1,618 | $100K | 6.5% | 7.7% | 4% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,126 | Sandia Knolls NM | 1,445 | $92K | 4.5% | 3.8% | 1% | B+ |
| 1,127 | Stillman Valley IL | 1,058 | $88K | 8.6% | 1.2% | 5% | B+ |
| 1,128 | Pelham MA | 1,308 | $114K | 10.3% | 6.6% | 1% | B+ |
| 1,129 | Garfield Township MI | 1,685 | $97K | 5.5% | 5.3% | <1% | B+ |
| 1,130 | Richmond NH | 1,234 | $89K | 2.7% | 13.4% | 3% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,400 | 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 Pelham, the top three, the last and three more from Massachusetts.
24% of Pelham works in a bordering town
The biggest share goes to Belchertown (13%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Pelham workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pelham | – | B+ | C+ | 23 min | $113,750 |
| New Salem | under 3% | C+ | C+ | 23 min | $79,688 |
| Belchertown | 13% | A− | B− | 29 min | $108,068 |
| Amherst Town | 11% | B+ | A+ | 18 min | $66,968 |
| Shutesbury | under 3% | B | C− | 33 min | $123,333 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Pelham’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 Pelham: questions
What is the median household income in Pelham?
$113,750 (±$23,513) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,960 across Massachusetts and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Pelham?
10.3%, against 10.0% across Massachusetts and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Pelham?
23 minutes each way on average, against 29 across Massachusetts and 26 nationally. 33% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Pelham work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Springfield (13%, 19 mi), Belchertown (13%, 7 mi), Amherst Town (11%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Pelham walkable?
Pelham is more walkable than 37% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 4.2 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Pelham without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Pelham, from the people who make the trip.
More of Pelham
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.