Photo: John Phelan · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Sturbridge earn more than those in 93% of U.S. towns
The poverty rate is 3.7%, next to 10.0% for Massachusetts as a whole. For jobs and income Sturbridge is better than 87% of U.S. towns (A); for walkability it is more walkable than 26% of U.S. towns (C). About one in seven stay in Sturbridge for work; outside it, Worcester is the main destination (14%, 18 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Sturbridge stands out on work
Sturbridge trades workers with the towns around it
Sturbridge has about as many jobs (4,966) as working residents (4,587), but they are mostly different people: 3,885 residents leave for work each day while 4,264 people come in. Only 14% of the jobs in Sturbridge are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Sturbridge 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 ↓
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.
What’s behind Sturbridge’s Jobs & income grade
Household income is its strongest input ($136,759, U.S. $80,734); job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 61% of U.S. towns). 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, Sturbridge could be anywhere from B+ to A+.
Who commutes out of Sturbridge, and who commutes in
On a workday 3,885 residents head out to work, 702 work right here, and 4,264 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.08 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
About 38 minutes each way, longer than most of Massachusetts
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 12.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sturbridge workers work from home, vs 19% across Massachusetts. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,274 commuters (the 20% 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.
Commuting out of Sturbridge: the destinations
Where Sturbridge clocks in
14% of workers
6% 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.
The kinds of work in Sturbridge
4,966 jobs are based in Sturbridge.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sturbridge, 2013 → 2023: 4,167 → 4,966. 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 Sturbridge’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Short hops and long hauls from Sturbridge
About 17% 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 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Getting around Sturbridge: mostly by car
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.4% 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 5,326 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). 1.8% of Sturbridge households have no vehicle (Massachusetts 11.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Sturbridge’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Sturbridge ranks: 560th of 2,878 U.S. towns of 7,000 to 14,000
| # | 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 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 24 | Weston MA | 11,729 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.2% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 34 | Norwell MA | 11,546 | $189K | 2.7% | 1.9% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 80 | Georgetown MA | 8,577 | $152K | 3.8% | 1.7% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 558 | Greenbrier TN | 7,170 | $85K | 6.0% | 1.8% | 3% | A |
| 559 | Mission Township KS | 10,195 | $122K | 4.5% | 3.3% | 7% | A |
| 560 | Sturbridge MA | 10,120 | $137K | 3.7% | 3.5% | 15% | A |
| 561 | Blendon Township MI | 7,629 | $95K | 4.6% | 3.0% | 7% | A |
| 562 | Cheval FL | 13,969 | $102K | 4.6% | 3.5% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,878 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Sturbridge, the top three, the last and three more from Massachusetts.
Work in the towns next to Sturbridge
The biggest share goes to Southbridge Town (6%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Sturbridge workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sturbridge | – | A | C | 38 min | $136,759 |
| Southbridge Town | 6% | C | A | 28 min | $66,287 |
| Brookfield | under 2% | B− | C− | 32 min | $81,250 |
| Charlton | 3% | A+ | C− | 33 min | $117,587 |
| Holland | under 2% | B+ | C | 36 min | $91,979 |
| Brimfield | under 2% | A | D | 34 min | $111,250 |
| East Brookfield | under 2% | B | A− | 33 min | $81,042 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Sturbridge’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 Sturbridge: questions
What is the median household income in Sturbridge?
$136,759 (±$15,470) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,960 across Massachusetts and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sturbridge?
3.7%, against 10.0% across Massachusetts and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sturbridge?
38 minutes each way on average, against 29 across Massachusetts and 26 nationally. 20% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sturbridge work?
15% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Worcester (14%, 18 mi), Southbridge Town (6%, 4 mi), Boston (5%, 57 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Sturbridge walkable?
Sturbridge is more walkable than 26% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 6.7 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sturbridge without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sturbridge, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sturbridge
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.