Photo: John Phelan · CC BY 3.0Few U.S. towns have household incomes as high as Sudbury’s
Household incomes here are among the highest in the country. Poverty touches 3.0% of residents, against 10.0% across Massachusetts. For jobs and income Sudbury is better than 95% of U.S. towns (A); for walkability it is more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns (B+).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Sudbury: the figures worth knowing
A lot of Sudbury works from home
33% of Sudbury workers work from home, against 19% across Massachusetts. Time on the road ↓
Three in four Sudbury workers earn over $40,000 a year
79% of Sudbury’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, the top earnings band in the Census data. The jobs ↓
Sudbury workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 35 minutes each way, against 29 across Massachusetts. Over a year that’s about 268 hours of commuting, 46 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
Sudbury draws workers from far and wide
The 5,902 jobs in Sudbury are filled from a wide area. Sudbury’s own residents hold 11% and the ten next-biggest home towns 32%; the other 57% 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.
Income, poverty and work: Sudbury’s grade explained
Household income is its strongest input ($236,250, U.S. $80,734); unemployment ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (4.2%, 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, Sudbury could be anywhere from A− to A+.
Sudbury’s commute takes about 35 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sudbury workers work from home, vs 19% across Massachusetts. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 6,030 commuters (the 33% 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.
66% of the jobs in Sudbury pay over $3,333 a month
5,902 jobs are based in Sudbury.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sudbury, 2013 → 2023: 6,975 → 5,902. 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 Sudbury’s own residents hold wherever they work.
20% of working residents work in Boston
Where Sudbury clocks in
20% of workers
8% of workers
7% 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.
A workday in Sudbury: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 7,867 residents head out to work, 650 work right here, and 5,252 people come in from elsewhere.
About 17,000 people are in Sudbury on a workday afternoon, 13% fewer than live here.
0.69 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Sudbury
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.
Driving is how Sudbury gets around
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 5.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 14.1% across Massachusetts, on an EPA index of 7.1.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 8,999 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 13% 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 0.4 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 49% 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). 2.2% of Sudbury households have no vehicle (Massachusetts 11.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 4% of Sudbury’s commuters take a bus or train.
Sudbury is 168th of 1,860 U.S. towns of 14,000 to 27,000 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 166 | Urbana MD | 14,260 | $183K | 1.2% | 3.7% | 5% | A |
| 167 | Batavia IL | 26,586 | $120K | 5.5% | 2.5% | 10% | A |
| 168 | Sudbury MA | 19,643 | $236K | 3.0% | 4.2% | 8% | A |
| 169 | Kingston MA | 14,548 | $120K | 3.1% | 2.2% | 11% | A |
| 170 | Hazlet Township NJ | 20,743 | $122K | 3.7% | 3.5% | 7% | 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 Sudbury, the top three, the last and three more from Massachusetts.
The towns around Sudbury
The biggest share goes to Framingham (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Sudbury workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sudbury | – | A | B+ | 35 min | $236,250 |
| Wayland | under 3% | A+ | B | 31 min | $224,000 |
| Maynard | under 3% | A− | B+ | 32 min | $124,067 |
| Framingham | 3% | B+ | A | 30 min | $107,419 |
| Stow | under 3% | A | B− | 36 min | $185,809 |
| Concord | 2% | A+ | A | 32 min | $195,350 |
| Hudson | under 3% | A− | A− | 31 min | $103,400 |
| Marlborough | 3% | B+ | A− | 30 min | $91,968 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Sudbury’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 Sudbury: questions
What is the median household income in Sudbury?
$236,250 (±$16,791) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,960 across Massachusetts and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sudbury?
3.0%, against 10.0% across Massachusetts and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sudbury?
35 minutes each way on average, against 29 across Massachusetts and 26 nationally. 33% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sudbury work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Boston (20%, 21 mi), Cambridge (8%, 15 mi), Waltham (7%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Sudbury walkable?
Sudbury is more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.1 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sudbury without a car?
4% 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 Sudbury, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sudbury
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.