Capt. Josiah Locke House · Photo: User:Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 4.0Winchester has some of the highest household incomes of any U.S. town
Household incomes here are among the highest in the country. Below the poverty line: 4.7% of residents, where Massachusetts as a whole has 10.0%. The two grades for Winchester are A+ for jobs and income and A+ for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Winchester at work: what stands out
Most Winchester residents work close to home
75% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about three in four. Only 3% work more than 50 miles away. How far ↓
A lot of Winchester works from home
34% of Winchester workers work from home, against 19% across Massachusetts. Time on the road ↓
Short distances, slow trips
Half of Winchester’s working residents have a job less than 8 miles away, yet the average commute still takes 31 minutes, longer than the Massachusetts average of 29. Time on the road ↓
Four in five Winchester workers earn over $40,000 a year
80% of Winchester’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, the top earnings band in the Census data. The jobs ↓
30% of Winchester works in Boston
3,171 working residents, 30%, have their main job in Boston, 11 miles away. That’s 4 times as many as work in Winchester itself. The commute map ↓
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.
Winchester’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Winchester is better than 95% of U.S. towns, #31 of 283 in Massachusetts. Household income is its strongest input ($230,198, U.S. $80,734); unemployment ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (3.8%, 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, Winchester could be anywhere from A to A+.
How many miles Winchester commutes
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.
About 31 minutes to work from Winchester
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Winchester workers work from home, vs 19% across Massachusetts. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 7,644 commuters (the 34% 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.
70% of the jobs in Winchester pay over $3,333 a month
6,295 jobs are based in Winchester.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Winchester, 2013 → 2023: 8,057 → 6,295. 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 Winchester’s own residents hold wherever they work.
30% of working residents work in Boston
Where Winchester clocks in
30% of workers
11% 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.
Winchester quiets down on a workday
On a workday 9,812 residents head out to work, 755 work right here, and 5,540 people come in from elsewhere.
About 19,000 people are in Winchester on a workday afternoon, 18% 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.
Winchester is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Winchester is more walkable than 97% of U.S. towns, #28 of 283 in Massachusetts. Both inputs place Winchester 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 11,554 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 80% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 23% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 3.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 77% 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). 5.1% of Winchester households have no vehicle (Massachusetts 11.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 9% of Winchester’s commuters take a bus or train.
116th of 1,577: where Winchester ranks among U.S. towns of 17,000 to 32,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Lake Forest IL | 19,731 | $235K | 3.5% | 1.8% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 16 | Hopkinton MA | 19,866 | $223K | 2.5% | 2.3% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 38 | Hingham MA | 24,481 | $178K | 4.3% | 2.4% | 13% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 40 | Reading MA | 25,803 | $166K | 3.2% | 3.3% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 114 | Rosemount MN | 31,881 | $130K | 3.0% | 3.5% | 7% | A+ |
| 115 | Concord MA | 18,208 | $195K | 3.7% | 3.7% | 12% | A+ |
| 116 | Winchester MA | 23,710 | $230K | 4.7% | 3.8% | 7% | A+ |
| 117 | Holly Springs GA | 20,261 | $114K | 3.9% | 2.2% | 3% | A+ |
| 118 | Creve Coeur MO | 18,480 | $127K | 6.1% | 2.6% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,577 | Nogales AZ | 19,495 | $43K | 28.0% | 15.7% | 37% | 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 Winchester, the top three, the last and three more from Massachusetts.
The towns around Winchester
The biggest share goes to Woburn (4%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Winchester workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winchester | – | A+ | A+ | 31 min | $230,198 |
| Lexington | 2% | A+ | A+ | 31 min | $238,444 |
| Woburn | 4% | B+ | A | 25 min | $111,185 |
| Medford | 2% | A | A+ | 30 min | $129,540 |
| Arlington | under 2% | A+ | A+ | 32 min | $150,701 |
| Stoneham | under 2% | A+ | A | 28 min | $113,964 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Winchester’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 Winchester: questions
What is the median household income in Winchester?
$230,198 (±$20,670) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,960 across Massachusetts and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Winchester?
4.7%, against 10.0% across Massachusetts and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Winchester?
31 minutes each way on average, against 29 across Massachusetts and 26 nationally. 34% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Winchester work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Boston (30%, 11 mi), Cambridge (11%, 6 mi), Woburn (4%, 2 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Winchester walkable?
Winchester is more walkable than 97% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 12.7 out of 20, and 15% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Winchester without a car?
9% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 23% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Winchester, from the people who make the trip.
More of Winchester
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.