Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Unemployment in Pittsfield (7.0%) is higher than in 82% of U.S. towns
Working from home is the commute for 10% of workers, against 19% across Massachusetts. For jobs and income Pittsfield is better than 27% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 89% of U.S. towns (A). Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 3.1 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
Pittsfield and work: the main findings
Jobs & income in Pittsfield: the grade in detail
Job access by car holds Pittsfield’s grade up (ahead of 48% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Pittsfield could be anywhere from C− to C+.
How long Pittsfield spends getting to work: about 19 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Pittsfield workers work from home, vs 19% across Massachusetts. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 19,062 commuters (the 10% 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.
A workday in Pittsfield: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 9,303 residents head out to work, 10,031 work right here, and 12,977 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 (1.19 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.
6% of working residents work in Lenox
Where Pittsfield clocks in
6% of workers
3% of workers
3% 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.
66% of the jobs in Pittsfield pay over $3,333 a month
23,008 jobs are based in Pittsfield.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Pittsfield, 2013 → 2023: 22,398 → 23,008. 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 Pittsfield’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Miles to work from Pittsfield
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.
Pittsfield 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 21,223 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 74% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 17% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 3.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 76% 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). 13.6% of Pittsfield households have no vehicle (Massachusetts 11.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Pittsfield’s commuters take a bus or train.
Pittsfield is 895th of 1,011 U.S. towns of 30,000 to 58,000 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 22 | Lexington MA | 34,648 | $238K | 4.7% | 2.9% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 38 | Shrewsbury MA | 39,627 | $139K | 3.7% | 2.4% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 43 | Arlington MA | 46,563 | $151K | 5.4% | 2.9% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 893 | Lincoln Park MI | 38,529 | $59K | 21.5% | 8.4% | 4% | C |
| 894 | Norwich CT | 40,001 | $65K | 16.7% | 8.2% | 18% | C |
| 895 | Pittsfield MA | 42,909 | $71K | 14.9% | 7.0% | 52% | C |
| 896 | Enid OK | 50,297 | $62K | 13.7% | 5.3% | 57% | C |
| 897 | Florence SC | 41,231 | $56K | 18.9% | 5.4% | 40% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 1,011 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Pittsfield, the top three, the last and three more from Massachusetts.
Pittsfield and the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Dalton (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Pittsfield workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pittsfield | – | C | A | 19 min | $70,582 |
| Dalton | 3% | C+ | B | 22 min | $79,438 |
| Hancock | under 2% | — | — | 22 min | — |
| Lanesborough | under 2% | B+ | B− | 22 min | $86,219 |
| Washington | under 2% | — | — | 25 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Hancock and Washington: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Pittsfield’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 Pittsfield: questions
What is the median household income in Pittsfield?
$70,582 (±$4,572) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,960 across Massachusetts and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Pittsfield?
14.9%, against 10.0% across Massachusetts and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Pittsfield?
19 minutes each way on average, against 29 across Massachusetts and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Pittsfield work?
52% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lenox (6%, 6 mi), Lee (3%, 10 mi), Dalton (3%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Pittsfield walkable?
Pittsfield is more walkable than 89% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 11.2 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Pittsfield without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 14% of households have no car. 17% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Pittsfield, from the people who make the trip.
More of Pittsfield
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.