WPA Field House · Photo: Electrachrome · CC BY-SA 3.0Scituate’s household incomes are higher than in 93% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 2.9% of residents; Massachusetts has 10.0%. Jobs and income earn Scituate A; getting around on foot earns it A. For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 0.5 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 47.9 in Boston.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Scituate
Scituate workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 38 minutes each way, against 29 across Massachusetts. Over a year that’s about 291 hours of commuting, 69 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
Home offices are common in Scituate
28% of Scituate workers work from home, against 19% across Massachusetts. Time on the road ↓
28% of Scituate works in Boston
2,543 working residents, 28%, have their main job in Boston, 16 miles away. That’s twice as many as work in Scituate itself. The commute map ↓
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.
Where Scituate’s Jobs & income grade comes from
Household income is its strongest input ($136,732, U.S. $80,734); unemployment ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (3.5%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Scituate could be anywhere from A− to A+.
From Scituate, about 38 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 12.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Scituate workers work from home, vs 19% across Massachusetts. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 6,991 commuters (the 28% 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.
28% of working residents work in Boston
Where Scituate clocks in
28% of workers
4% 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.
The daily commute in and out of Scituate
On a workday 8,030 residents head out to work, 1,186 work right here, and 2,276 people come in from elsewhere.
About 14,000 people are in Scituate on a workday afternoon, 29% fewer than live here.
0.38 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.
Health, schools and offices: most of the jobs in Scituate
3,462 jobs are based in Scituate.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Scituate, 2013 → 2023: 3,186 → 3,462. 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 Scituate’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Scituate goes to work
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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Scituate
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Scituate is more walkable than 91% of U.S. towns, #68 of 283 in Massachusetts. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 13.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 14.1% across Massachusetts, on an EPA index of 8.6.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 9,715 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 36% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 7% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.5 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 50% 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). 1.9% of Scituate households have no vehicle (Massachusetts 11.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 10% of Scituate’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 14,000 to 27,000, Scituate ranks 241st of 1,860 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ada Township MI | 14,769 | $168K | 2.0% | 0.7% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 12 | Westwood MA | 16,426 | $223K | 4.6% | 1.9% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 22 | Hopkinton MA | 19,866 | $223K | 2.5% | 2.3% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 57 | Hingham MA | 24,481 | $178K | 4.3% | 2.4% | 13% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 239 | Frederick CO | 18,241 | $129K | 3.3% | 3.4% | 5% | A |
| 240 | Darien IL | 22,032 | $111K | 4.2% | 3.9% | 4% | A |
| 241 | Scituate MA | 19,662 | $137K | 2.9% | 3.5% | 13% | A |
| 242 | Pembroke MA | 18,492 | $146K | 4.0% | 3.4% | 9% | A |
| 243 | Hamburg Township MI | 20,901 | $114K | 4.0% | 2.8% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,860 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Scituate, the top three, the last and three more from Massachusetts.
Scituate and its neighbors
The biggest share goes to Cohasset (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Scituate workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scituate | – | A | A | 38 min | $136,732 |
| Marshfield | under 2% | A− | B+ | 35 min | $125,986 |
| Marshfield Hills | under 2% | — | — | 37 min | — |
| Cohasset | 3% | A | A− | 37 min | $199,306 |
| Norwell | 3% | A+ | B+ | 35 min | $188,699 |
| Ocean Bluff-Brant Rock | under 2% | — | — | 35 min | — |
| Hingham | 3% | A+ | A+ | 36 min | $178,390 |
Same-state neighbors only. Marshfield Hills and Ocean Bluff-Brant Rock: Census-designated places inside larger towns, graded as part of them. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Scituate’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 Scituate: questions
What is the median household income in Scituate?
$136,732 (±$15,903) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,960 across Massachusetts and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Scituate?
2.9%, against 10.0% across Massachusetts and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Scituate?
38 minutes each way on average, against 29 across Massachusetts and 26 nationally. 28% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Scituate work?
13% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Boston (28%, 16 mi), Quincy (4%, 14 mi), Hingham (3%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Scituate walkable?
Scituate is more walkable than 91% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.6 out of 20, and 13% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Scituate without a car?
10% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 7% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Scituate, from the people who make the trip.
More of Scituate
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.