District No. 5 School · Photo: Tim Pierce · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Shrewsbury are higher than in 93% of U.S. towns
About one in ten stay in Shrewsbury for work; outside it, Worcester is the main destination (18%, 5 miles). Below the poverty line: 3.7% of residents (Massachusetts 10.0%). For jobs and income Shrewsbury is better than 97% of U.S. towns (A+); for walkability it is more walkable than 73% of U.S. towns (B+).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Shrewsbury stands out on work
Shrewsbury and Worcester trade workers both ways
Worcester is the top workplace for Shrewsbury residents (18%) and also where the most people who work in Shrewsbury come from (18% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Shrewsbury draws workers from far and wide
The 13,714 jobs in Shrewsbury are filled from a wide area. Shrewsbury’s own residents hold 12% and the ten next-biggest home towns 32%; the other 56% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Income, poverty and work: Shrewsbury’s grade explained
All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Shrewsbury’s grade. 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, Shrewsbury could be anywhere from A to A+.
The towns that employ Shrewsbury’s residents
Where Shrewsbury clocks in
18% of workers
9% of workers
5% 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.
Shrewsbury on a workday afternoon
On a workday 16,065 residents head out to work, 1,658 work right here, and 12,056 people come in from elsewhere.
About 36,000 people are in Shrewsbury on a workday afternoon, 10% fewer than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.77 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
65% of the jobs in Shrewsbury pay over $3,333 a month
13,714 jobs are based in Shrewsbury.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Shrewsbury, 2014 → 2024: 12,540 → 13,714. 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 Shrewsbury’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Shrewsbury spends getting to work: about 31 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Shrewsbury workers work from home, vs 19% across Massachusetts. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 14,679 commuters (the 26% 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 Shrewsbury’s workers travel
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.
The commute in Shrewsbury is mostly behind the wheel
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 14.1% across Massachusetts.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 19,926 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 33% 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 1.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 59% 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). 4.6% of Shrewsbury households have no vehicle (Massachusetts 11.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Shrewsbury’s commuters take a bus or train.
41st of 1,064: where Shrewsbury ranks among U.S. towns of 28,000 to 53,000
| # | 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% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | Lexington MA | 34,648 | $238K | 4.7% | 2.9% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 39 | Erie CO | 40,904 | $173K | 2.3% | 3.1% | 6% | A+ |
| 40 | Matthews NC | 32,769 | $109K | 3.7% | 2.1% | 6% | A+ |
| 41 | Shrewsbury MA | 39,627 | $139K | 3.7% | 2.4% | 9% | A+ |
| 42 | Potomac MD | 45,902 | $237K | 3.9% | 3.6% | 7% | A+ |
| 43 | Perry Township IN | 39,325 | $112K | 3.4% | 1.3% | 17% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 46 | Arlington MA | 46,563 | $151K | 5.4% | 2.9% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 66 | Melrose MA | 29,597 | $134K | 3.8% | 3.7% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,064 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 25% | 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 Shrewsbury, the top three, the last and three more from Massachusetts.
Next door is work for 26% of Shrewsbury
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Shrewsbury workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shrewsbury | – | A+ | B+ | 31 min | $139,302 |
| Boylston | under 2% | A | C | 27 min | $140,962 |
| Northborough | 3% | A | B | 31 min | $153,199 |
| Grafton | under 2% | A | B | 33 min | $131,484 |
| Westborough | 5% | A | A− | 29 min | $141,944 |
| Worcester | 18% | C+ | A+ | 24 min | $70,102 |
| West Boylston | under 2% | A− | B | 25 min | $104,551 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Worcester. Darker towns draw more of Shrewsbury’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 Shrewsbury: questions
What is the median household income in Shrewsbury?
$139,302 (±$11,474) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,960 across Massachusetts and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Shrewsbury?
3.7%, against 10.0% across Massachusetts and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Shrewsbury?
31 minutes each way on average, against 29 across Massachusetts and 26 nationally. 26% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Shrewsbury work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Worcester (18%, 5 mi), Boston (9%, 36 mi), Marlborough (5%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Shrewsbury walkable?
Shrewsbury is more walkable than 73% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 9.0 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Shrewsbury without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Shrewsbury, from the people who make the trip.
More of Shrewsbury
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.