Warren Sweetser House · Photo: User:Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 4.0Stoneham has 0.5 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
6,547 jobs are based in Stoneham, against 12,045 working residents. Jobs and income earn Stoneham A+; getting around on foot earns it A. Household incomes here are higher than in 86% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Stoneham and work: the main findings
Most Stoneham residents work close to home
68% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. Only 4% work more than 50 miles away. How far ↓
Stoneham draws workers from far and wide
The 6,547 jobs in Stoneham are filled from a wide area. Stoneham’s own residents hold 12% and the ten next-biggest home towns 27%; the other 61% 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 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Why Stoneham gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Stoneham is better than 97% of U.S. towns, #18 of 283 in Massachusetts. Job access by car is its strongest input (ahead of 97% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (5.4%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Stoneham could be anywhere from A to A+.
Stoneham’s commute, mile by mile
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.
24% of working residents work in Boston
Where Stoneham clocks in
24% of workers
6% 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 Stoneham
On a workday 11,232 residents head out to work, 813 work right here, and 5,734 people come in from elsewhere.
About 19,000 people are in Stoneham on a workday afternoon, 23% 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.
What Stoneham’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Stoneham, 2013 → 2023: 6,268 → 6,547. 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 Stoneham’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting from Stoneham: about 28 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Stoneham workers work from home, vs 19% across Massachusetts. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 9,515 commuters (the 25% 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.
Stoneham is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Stoneham is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns, #82 of 283 in Massachusetts. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 4.8% 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 12,612 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 70% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 13% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 2.7 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 73% 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). 3.9% of Stoneham households have no vehicle (Massachusetts 11.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of Stoneham’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Stoneham is 75th among 1,642 U.S. towns of 17,000 to 33,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Lake Forest IL | 19,731 | $235K | 3.5% | 1.8% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 17 | Hopkinton MA | 19,866 | $223K | 2.5% | 2.3% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 40 | Hingham MA | 24,481 | $178K | 4.3% | 2.4% | 13% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 42 | Reading MA | 25,803 | $166K | 3.2% | 3.3% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 73 | Matthews NC | 32,769 | $109K | 3.7% | 2.1% | 7% | A+ |
| 74 | South Windsor CT | 27,036 | $145K | 4.9% | 2.4% | 10% | A+ |
| 75 | Stoneham MA | 24,253 | $114K | 5.4% | 2.2% | 7% | A+ |
| 76 | Concord Township OH | 19,217 | $122K | 2.9% | 2.1% | 6% | A+ |
| 77 | Gainesville VA | 18,196 | $174K | 4.0% | 2.6% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,642 | Nogales AZ | 19,495 | $43K | 28.0% | 15.7% | 37% | 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 Stoneham, the top three, the last and three more from Massachusetts.
10% of Stoneham works in a town next door
The biggest share goes to Woburn (5%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Stoneham workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stoneham | – | A+ | A | 28 min | $113,964 |
| Wakefield | 3% | A | A+ | 33 min | $134,306 |
| Woburn | 5% | B+ | A | 25 min | $111,185 |
| Medford | 2% | A | A+ | 30 min | $129,540 |
| Melrose | under 2% | A+ | A+ | 35 min | $133,953 |
| Winchester | under 2% | A+ | A+ | 31 min | $230,198 |
| Reading | under 2% | A+ | A | 31 min | $165,912 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Stoneham’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 Stoneham: questions
What is the median household income in Stoneham?
$113,964 (±$10,253) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,960 across Massachusetts and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Stoneham?
5.4%, against 10.0% across Massachusetts and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Stoneham?
28 minutes each way on average, against 29 across Massachusetts and 26 nationally. 25% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Stoneham work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Boston (24%, 11 mi), Cambridge (6%, 7 mi), Woburn (5%, 3 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Stoneham walkable?
Stoneham is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 11.9 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Stoneham without a car?
3% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 13% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Stoneham, from the people who make the trip.
More of Stoneham
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.