Paul Cuffe Farm · Photo: Cortikal · CC BY-SA 3.0Most of Westport commutes out: there are 0.6 jobs for every working resident
9% of workers work from home, against 19% across Massachusetts. Employers in Westport report 4,024 jobs for 7,244 working residents. Westport grades A− for jobs and income and C for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Westport, in brief
Jobs & income in Westport: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Westport is better than 81% of U.S. towns, #149 of 283 in Massachusetts. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Westport’s grade. 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, Westport could be anywhere from B to A.
17% of working residents work in Fall River
Where Westport clocks in
17% 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.
Who works in Westport, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 6,161 residents head out to work, 1,083 work right here, and 2,941 people come in from elsewhere.
About 14,000 people are in Westport on a workday afternoon, 19% 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.
What Westport’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Westport, 2013 → 2023: 3,206 → 4,024. 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 Westport’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Westport takes about 29 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Westport workers work from home, vs 19% across Massachusetts. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 7,774 commuters (the 9% 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.
Westport’s commute, mile by mile
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 Westport walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Westport is more walkable than 34% of U.S. towns, #247 of 283 in Massachusetts. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 14.1% across Massachusetts.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 8,566 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 16% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 16% 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). 2.6% of Westport households have no vehicle (Massachusetts 11.7%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Westport’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 1,999 U.S. towns of 12,000 to 23,000, Westport comes 616th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Trophy Club TX | 13,695 | $201K | 2.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 16 | Westwood MA | 16,426 | $223K | 4.6% | 1.9% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | Hopkinton MA | 19,866 | $223K | 2.5% | 2.3% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 73 | Sharon MA | 18,798 | $192K | 3.8% | 3.0% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 614 | White House TN | 17,872 | $90K | 7.0% | 2.9% | 6% | A− |
| 615 | Hudson MA | 20,341 | $103K | 5.3% | 4.8% | 13% | A− |
| 616 | Westport MA | 16,851 | $96K | 6.7% | 3.0% | 15% | A− |
| 617 | Lebanon OH | 22,110 | $84K | 8.7% | 1.7% | 16% | A− |
| 618 | Heber UT | 19,651 | $110K | 5.3% | 2.3% | 22% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,999 | 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 Westport, the top three, the last and three more from Massachusetts.
24% of Westport works in a bordering town
The biggest share goes to Fall River (17%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Westport workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Westport | – | A− | C | 29 min | $96,000 |
| Dartmouth | 7% | A− | A− | 27 min | $99,839 |
| Fall River | 17% | C | A | 26 min | $56,673 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Westport’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 Westport: questions
What is the median household income in Westport?
$96,000 (±$9,273) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,960 across Massachusetts and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Westport?
6.7%, against 10.0% across Massachusetts and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Westport?
29 minutes each way on average, against 29 across Massachusetts and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Westport work?
15% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Fall River (17%, 10 mi), New Bedford (8%, 9 mi), Dartmouth (7%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Westport walkable?
Westport is more walkable than 34% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 7.2 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Westport without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 16% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Westport, from the people who make the trip.
More of Westport
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.