Photo: Tom Walsh · CC BY-SA 3.026% of Sunderland’s residents are college students
Jobs and income earn Sunderland B−; getting around on foot earns it A. For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 4.0 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 47.9 in Boston. Only 4% work in Sunderland; the top destination outside it is Northampton (12%, 12 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Sunderland apart
Commutes from Sunderland are quick
The average trip to work takes 17 minutes, against 29 across Massachusetts. That’s about 92 hours a year less on the road than the typical Massachusetts worker. Time on the road ↓
Sunderland makes and builds things
45% of the jobs based in Sunderland are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Sunderland residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 14%. The jobs ↓
Most jobs in Sunderland pay over $40,000 a year
72% of the jobs based in Sunderland pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), the top earnings band in the Census data. The jobs ↓
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.
Inside Sunderland’s Jobs & income grade
On family income, poverty and job access, Sunderland is better than 53% of U.S. towns, #239 of 283 in Massachusetts. The poverty rate holds Sunderland’s grade up (4.9%, U.S. 11.9%); family income pulls it down ($75,917, U.S. $99,999).
Unemployment (6.5%) is left out here: students looking for part-time work count as unemployed. Income is ranked as median family income ($75,917), since student households pull the household median down ($68,083).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for family income and poverty, Sunderland could be anywhere from C− to A−.
Sunderland’s commute takes about 17 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sunderland workers work from home, vs 19% across Massachusetts. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,858 commuters (the 17% 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.
A place that makes things: 45% of Sunderland’s jobs are in goods
800 jobs are based in Sunderland.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sunderland, 2013 → 2023: 716 → 800. 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 Sunderland’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily commute in and out of Sunderland
On a workday 1,302 residents head out to work, 58 work right here, and 742 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,000 people are in Sunderland on a workday afternoon, 16% fewer than live here.
0.59 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.
Commuting out of Sunderland: the destinations
Where Sunderland clocks in
12% of workers
11% 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.
How far Sunderland goes to work
About 18% 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.
Sunderland is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Sunderland is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns, #89 of 283 in Massachusetts. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 10.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 14.1% across Massachusetts, on an EPA index of 8.1.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,228 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 42% 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 4.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 80% 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). 4.8% of Sunderland households have no vehicle (Massachusetts 11.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 10% of Sunderland’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 2,500 to 4,900, Sunderland ranks 2,145th of 4,474 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 113 | West Newbury MA | 4,709 | $180K | 1.6% | 2.4% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 141 | Avon MA | 4,861 | $131K | 4.6% | 2.5% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 170 | Princeton MA | 3,618 | $159K | 4.2% | 0.4% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,143 | Jessup PA | 4,506 | $65K | 18.1% | 2.0% | 8% | B− |
| 2,144 | Clay Township IN | 2,679 | $86K | 5.4% | 5.4% | 2% | B− |
| 2,145 | Sunderland MA | 3,607 | $68K | 14.3% | 6.5% | 4% | B− |
| 2,146 | Quincy Township MI | 4,140 | $70K | 9.3% | 2.4% | 9% | B− |
| 2,147 | Halifax Township PA | 3,352 | $71K | 6.9% | 5.0% | 7% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,474 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Sunderland, the top three, the last and three more from Massachusetts.
11% of Sunderland works in a bordering town
The biggest share goes to Whately (6%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Sunderland workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunderland | – | B− | A | 17 min | $68,083 |
| Deerfield | 5% | A− | A | 18 min | $106,136 |
| South Deerfield | under 3% | — | — | 12 min | — |
| Whately | 6% | A− | D | 23 min | $116,563 |
| Leverett | under 3% | B | C+ | 27 min | $104,688 |
| Montague | under 3% | C | A− | 21 min | $70,510 |
Same-state neighbors only. South Deerfield: a Census-designated place inside a larger town, graded as part of it. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Sunderland’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.
- Students. 26% of residents are college students; the poverty input leaves off-campus students out (above).
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Sunderland: questions
What is the median household income in Sunderland?
$68,083 (±$3,491) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,960 across Massachusetts and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sunderland?
14.3% of residents live below the poverty line; leaving out college students, 4.9%. Massachusetts: 10.0%.
How long is the commute from Sunderland?
17 minutes each way on average, against 29 across Massachusetts and 26 nationally. 17% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sunderland work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Northampton (12%, 12 mi), Amherst Town (11%, 7 mi), Springfield (7%, 24 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Sunderland walkable?
Sunderland is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.1 out of 20, and 11% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sunderland without a car?
10% 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 Sunderland, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sunderland
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.