Photo: Pmeleski at English Wikipedia · Public domainSpencer has 0.4 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
About one in ten work in Spencer; the top destination outside it is Worcester (21%, 10 miles). There are 2,721 jobs in Spencer; 6,155 of its residents have a job. Jobs and income earn Spencer C+; getting around on foot earns it B−.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Spencer in brief
Why Spencer gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Spencer is better than 42% of U.S. towns, #256 of 283 in Massachusetts. Job access by car holds Spencer’s grade up (ahead of 59% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (7.1%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Spencer could be anywhere from C to B+.
Time on the road from Spencer: about 34 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Spencer workers work from home, vs 19% across Massachusetts. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,897 commuters (the 15% 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 a workday changes Spencer
On a workday 5,561 residents head out to work, 594 work right here, and 2,127 people come in from elsewhere.
About 8,700 people are in Spencer on a workday afternoon, 28% 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.
Out of Spencer to work: where people go
Where Spencer clocks in
21% of workers
6% 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.
33% of the jobs in Spencer make or build things
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Spencer, 2013 → 2023: 2,995 → 2,721. 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 Spencer’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Half of Spencer commutes less than 14 miles
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.
The commute in Spencer is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Spencer is more walkable than 51% of U.S. towns, #214 of 283 in Massachusetts. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.9% 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 5,762 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 48% 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 2.2 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 70% 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). 8.9% of Spencer households have no vehicle (Massachusetts 11.7%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Spencer’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Spencer is 1,461st of 2,151 U.S. towns of 9,000 to 16,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 19 | Weston MA | 11,729 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.2% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 26 | Norwell MA | 11,546 | $189K | 2.7% | 1.9% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 140 | Rehoboth MA | 13,567 | $138K | 3.6% | 2.6% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,459 | Port Neches TX | 13,768 | $82K | 13.1% | 7.4% | 13% | C+ |
| 1,460 | Little River SC | 11,771 | $66K | 12.7% | 4.2% | 10% | C+ |
| 1,461 | Spencer MA | 12,173 | $81K | 11.0% | 7.1% | 10% | C+ |
| 1,462 | Richland Township PA | 11,936 | $73K | 10.7% | 5.7% | 23% | C+ |
| 1,463 | Greencastle IN | 9,924 | $56K | 12.2% | 3.0% | 37% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,151 | Roma TX | 11,543 | $25K | 37.1% | 12.4% | 22% | 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 Spencer, the top three, the last and three more from Massachusetts.
The towns around Spencer
The biggest share goes to Charlton (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Spencer’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 Spencer: questions
What is the median household income in Spencer?
$80,533 (±$11,243) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,960 across Massachusetts and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Spencer?
11.0%, against 10.0% across Massachusetts and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Spencer?
34 minutes each way on average, against 29 across Massachusetts and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Spencer work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Worcester (21%, 10 mi), Boston (6%, 50 mi), Auburn (3%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Spencer walkable?
Spencer is more walkable than 51% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 8.4 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Spencer without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Spencer, from the people who make the trip.
More of Spencer
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.