Photo: John Phelan · CC BY 4.0Wales has 0.2 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
153 jobs are based in Wales; 771 of its residents have a job. For jobs and income Wales is better than 79% of U.S. towns (A−); for walkability it is more walkable than 27% of U.S. towns (C). Only 3% work in Wales; the top destination outside it is Sturbridge (11%, 8 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Wales at work: what stands out
Wales is a place people come home to
There are 153 jobs based in Wales, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Wales has about 1,200 people in it, 34% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Wales 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 ↓
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; with 771 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Wales’ Jobs & income grade
The poverty rate is its strongest input (5.1%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 63% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and job access by car.
Unemployment (5.5%) is left out: Wales’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Wales could be anywhere from B+ to A.
Wales by day and by night
On a workday 751 residents head out to work, 20 work right here, and 133 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,200 people are in Wales on a workday afternoon, 34% 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.
Getting to work from Wales 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 Wales workers work from home, vs 19% across Massachusetts. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 766 commuters (the 14% 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.
Out of Wales to work: where people go
Where Wales clocks in
11% of workers
9% 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.
What Wales’ employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Wales, 2013 → 2023: 132 → 153. 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 Wales’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many miles Wales commutes
About 24% 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.
Most of Wales commutes by car
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 2.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 14.1% across Massachusetts, on an EPA index of 5.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 887 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). 1.6% of Wales households have no vehicle (Massachusetts 11.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Wales’ commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,500, Wales ranks 726th of 5,656 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 577 | Whately MA | 1,622 | $117K | 5.4% | 4.7% | 6% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 666 | Williamsburg MA | 2,445 | $105K | 2.3% | 3.7% | 6% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 693 | Otis MA | 1,610 | $109K | 1.2% | 6.2% | 10% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 724 | Fontana-on-Geneva Lake WI | 1,886 | $107K | 7.5% | 3.3% | 4% | A− |
| 725 | White River Township IN | 2,340 | $82K | 3.9% | 3.4% | 2% | A− |
| 726 | Wales MA | 1,833 | $89K | 5.1% | 5.5% | 3% | A− |
| 727 | Haven Township MN | 1,951 | $104K | 3.8% | 4.2% | 1% | A− |
| 728 | Greensburg Township OH | 1,451 | $107K | 0.9% | 0.0% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,656 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | 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 Wales, the top three, the last and three more from Massachusetts.
The towns around Wales
The biggest share goes to Holland (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Wales’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 Wales: questions
What is the median household income in Wales?
$89,006 (±$5,959) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,960 across Massachusetts and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Wales?
5.1%, against 10.0% across Massachusetts and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Wales?
35 minutes each way on average, against 29 across Massachusetts and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Wales work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Sturbridge (11%, 8 mi), Worcester (9%, 26 mi), Southbridge Town (6%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Wales walkable?
Wales is more walkable than 27% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 5.0 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Wales without a car?
1% 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 Wales, from the people who make the trip.
More of Wales
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.