Photo: Judith Mosso, Ware, MA · CC BY-SA 4.0At 9.2%, unemployment in Ware is higher than in 92% of U.S. towns
The two grades for Ware are C for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. About one in seven stay in Ware for work; outside it, Springfield is the main destination (11%, 17 miles). For 12% of workers, the job is at home, where Massachusetts as a whole has 19%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Ware’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Ware is better than 27% of U.S. towns, #272 of 283 in Massachusetts. Job access by car holds Ware’s grade up (ahead of 52% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Ware could be anywhere from D to B−.
In and out of Ware on a workday
On a workday 3,722 residents head out to work, 637 work right here, and 1,964 people come in from elsewhere.
About 8,400 people are in Ware on a workday afternoon, 17% fewer than live here.
0.60 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.
Out of Ware to work: where people go
Where Ware clocks in
11% of workers
7% of workers
4% 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 2,601 jobs based in Ware
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ware, 2013 → 2023: 2,390 → 2,601. 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 Ware’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 28 minutes each way, about the MA average
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ware workers work from home, vs 19% across Massachusetts. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,853 commuters (the 12% 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.
How far it is to work from Ware
About 15% 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.
Few in Ware walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Ware is more walkable than 65% of U.S. towns, #176 of 283 in Massachusetts. 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 6.5.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 4,395 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). 8.9% of Ware households have no vehicle (Massachusetts 11.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 4% of Ware’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Ware is 2,280th among 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,278 | Raceland LA | 9,585 | $60K | 13.8% | 6.0% | 5% | C |
| 2,279 | LaSalle Township IL | 13,152 | $61K | 16.1% | 5.3% | 14% | C |
| 2,280 | Ware MA | 10,128 | $67K | 11.8% | 9.2% | 15% | C |
| 2,281 | Princeton IL | 7,674 | $62K | 12.7% | 5.4% | 32% | C |
| 2,282 | Claremont NH | 13,032 | $59K | 13.5% | 4.2% | 27% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 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 Ware, the top three, the last and three more from Massachusetts.
Next door is work for 10% of Ware
The biggest share goes to Palmer Town (7%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Ware workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ware | – | C | B+ | 28 min | $67,475 |
| Belchertown | 3% | A− | B− | 29 min | $108,068 |
| New Salem | under 2% | C+ | C+ | 23 min | $79,688 |
| Petersham | under 2% | B | D | 39 min | $110,750 |
| Hardwick | under 2% | C+ | C | 31 min | $75,000 |
| Palmer Town | 7% | B+ | C+ | 31 min | $78,480 |
| West Brookfield | under 2% | B | D | 42 min | $95,613 |
| Warren | under 2% | C+ | D | 33 min | $66,082 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Ware’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 Ware: questions
What is the median household income in Ware?
$67,475 (±$15,499) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,960 across Massachusetts and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ware?
11.8%, against 10.0% across Massachusetts and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ware?
28 minutes each way on average, against 29 across Massachusetts and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ware work?
15% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Springfield (11%, 17 mi), Palmer Town (7%, 6 mi), Amherst Town (4%, 13 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Ware walkable?
Ware is more walkable than 65% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 6.5 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ware without a car?
4% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Ware, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ware
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.