Photo: John Phelan · CC BY 4.0Wayland has some of the highest household incomes of any U.S. town
Wayland grades A+ for jobs and income and B for walkability. Measured by household income, Wayland is among the highest-earning towns in the country. Poverty touches 4.9% of residents (Massachusetts 10.0%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Wayland
A lot of Wayland works from home
35% of Wayland workers work from home, against 19% across Massachusetts. Time on the road ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Wayland
80% of Wayland residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 57% of the jobs based in Wayland pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 94% leave town for their job. 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.
What’s behind Wayland’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Wayland is better than 96% of U.S. towns, #24 of 283 in Massachusetts. Household income is its strongest input ($224,000, U.S. $80,734); unemployment ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (3.3%, 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, Wayland could be anywhere from A to A+.
Getting to work from Wayland takes about 31 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Wayland workers work from home, vs 19% across Massachusetts. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,486 commuters (the 35% 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.
Health, schools and offices: most of the jobs in Wayland
3,172 jobs are based in Wayland.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Wayland, 2013 → 2023: 3,158 → 3,172. 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 Wayland’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Wayland by day and by night
On a workday 5,898 residents head out to work, 375 work right here, and 2,797 people come in from elsewhere.
About 11,000 people are in Wayland on a workday afternoon, 22% fewer than live here.
0.51 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.
23% of working residents work in Boston
Where Wayland clocks in
23% of workers
8% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Wayland
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 Wayland: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Wayland is more walkable than 56% of U.S. towns, #201 of 283 in Massachusetts. Both inputs place Wayland near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 6,914 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 0.2 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 44% 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). 4.5% of Wayland households have no vehicle (Massachusetts 11.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Wayland’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Wayland is 157th among 2,227 U.S. towns of 10,000 to 19,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 16 | Weston MA | 11,729 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.2% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 21 | Norwell MA | 11,546 | $189K | 2.7% | 1.9% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 26 | Westwood MA | 16,426 | $223K | 4.6% | 1.9% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 155 | Oxford CT | 13,311 | $129K | 4.0% | 2.3% | 9% | A+ |
| 156 | Falmouth ME | 12,982 | $151K | 2.3% | 2.7% | 13% | A+ |
| 157 | Wayland MA | 13,913 | $224K | 4.9% | 3.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 158 | Hampton Township PA | 17,808 | $134K | 3.9% | 2.6% | 8% | A+ |
| 159 | Newington VA | 13,478 | $155K | 2.2% | 4.1% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,227 | 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 Wayland, the top three, the last and three more from Massachusetts.
Work in the towns next to Wayland
The biggest share goes to Framingham (4%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Wayland workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wayland | – | A+ | B | 31 min | $224,000 |
| Sudbury | under 2% | A | B+ | 35 min | $236,250 |
| Framingham | 4% | B+ | A | 30 min | $107,419 |
| Natick | 3% | A | A | 31 min | $138,538 |
| Weston | under 2% | A+ | A− | 27 min | $250,000+ |
| Lincoln | under 2% | A+ | B− | 26 min | $175,117 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Wayland’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 Wayland: questions
What is the median household income in Wayland?
$224,000 (±$28,027) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,960 across Massachusetts and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Wayland?
4.9%, against 10.0% across Massachusetts and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Wayland?
31 minutes each way on average, against 29 across Massachusetts and 26 nationally. 35% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Wayland work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Boston (23%, 18 mi), Cambridge (8%, 12 mi), Waltham (6%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Wayland walkable?
Wayland is more walkable than 56% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.0 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Wayland without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Wayland, from the people who make the trip.
More of Wayland
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.