Photo: John Phelan · CC BY-SA 4.0Russell has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.2 for each
196 jobs are based in Russell for 841 working residents. Russell grades B+ for jobs and income and C− for walkability. Measured by household income, Russell is ahead of 83% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Russell in brief
Why Russell gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty and job access, Russell is better than 74% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Russell’s grade up ($108,750, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 42% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate.
Unemployment (1.8%) is left out: Russell’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, Russell could be anywhere from B− to A.
Who commutes out of Russell, and who commutes in
On a workday 821 residents head out to work, 20 work right here, and 176 people come in from elsewhere.
About 990 people are in Russell on a workday afternoon, 39% 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 2024, primary jobs.
14% of working residents work in Westfield
Where Russell clocks in
14% of workers
11% of workers
4% 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.
Jobs in Russell: what the 196 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Russell, 2014 → 2024: 169 → 196. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Russell’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 30 minutes each way, about the MA average
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Russell workers work from home, vs 19% across Massachusetts. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 605 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 far Russell goes to work
About 22% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Driving is how Russell gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Russell is more walkable than 23% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 2.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 14.1% across Massachusetts, on an EPA index of 4.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 666 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). 7.2% of Russell households have no vehicle (Massachusetts 11.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Russell’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Russell is 973rd among 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% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 566 | Whately MA | 1,622 | $117K | 5.4% | 4.7% | 6% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 673 | Otis MA | 1,610 | $109K | 1.2% | 6.2% | 8% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 710 | Wales MA | 1,833 | $89K | 5.1% | 5.5% | 4% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 971 | Sidney IL | 1,167 | $89K | 4.3% | 4.6% | 2% | B+ |
| 972 | Andalusia IL | 1,175 | $77K | 4.7% | 2.4% | 1% | B+ |
| 973 | Russell MA | 1,637 | $109K | 6.3% | 1.8% | 2% | B+ |
| 974 | Little Falls Township MN | 1,710 | $108K | 4.6% | 1.6% | 2% | B+ |
| 975 | McConnell AFB KS | 1,907 | $73K | 6.6% | 4.2% | <1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6,161 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 7% | 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 Russell, the top three, the last and three more from Massachusetts.
Russell and its neighbors: 17% work next door
The biggest share goes to Westfield (14%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Russell workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Russell | – | B+ | C− | 30 min | $108,750 |
| Westfield | 14% | B+ | A | 27 min | $87,753 |
| Montgomery | under 3% | — | — | 36 min | — |
| Blandford | under 3% | A− | D | 36 min | $91,902 |
| Granville | 3% | B | C | 39 min | $84,375 |
| Huntington | under 3% | B | C− | 34 min | $94,398 |
Same-state neighbors only. Montgomery: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Russell’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 2024, 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 Russell: questions
What is the median household income in Russell?
$108,750 (±$23,618) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,960 across Massachusetts and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Russell?
6.3%, against 10.0% across Massachusetts and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Russell?
30 minutes each way on average, against 29 across Massachusetts and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Russell work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Westfield (14%, 5 mi), Springfield (11%, 16 mi), Agawam Town (4%, 12 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Russell walkable?
Russell is more walkable than 23% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 4.0 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Russell without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Russell, from the people who make the trip.
More of Russell
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.