Woburn Public Library · Photo: Daderot · CC0Woburn draws 38,384 commuters a day, with 2.0 jobs for every working resident
41,428 jobs are based in Woburn for 20,774 working residents. Woburn grades B+ for jobs and income and A for walkability. Measured by household income, Woburn is ahead of 84% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Woburn apart on work
Woburn is where the jobs are
Woburn has 41,428 jobs, 2.0 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 65,000 people are in town, 47% more than the 44,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
Woburn draws workers from far and wide
The 41,428 jobs in Woburn are filled from a wide area. Woburn’s own residents hold 7% and the ten next-biggest home towns 25%; the other 68% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
The quickest commute around
Woburn’s 25-minute average trip is shorter than in any town next door, where it runs from 28 to 31 minutes. Next door ↓
Most Woburn residents work close to home
62% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. Only 3% work more than 50 miles away. How far ↓
Most jobs in Woburn pay over $40,000 a year
74% of the jobs based in Woburn pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), the top earnings band in the Census data. 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.
How Woburn earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Woburn is better than 71% of U.S. towns, #190 of 283 in Massachusetts. Job access by car holds Woburn’s grade up (ahead of 97% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (7.9%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Woburn could be anywhere from B to A−.
Who leaves Woburn for work, and who comes in
On a workday 17,730 residents head out to work and 3,044 work right here.
About 65,000 people are in Woburn on a workday afternoon, 47% more 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.
Where Woburn’s workers come from
Where Woburn clocks in
17% of workers
7% of workers
5% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Woburn
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.
74% of the jobs in Woburn pay over $3,333 a month
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Woburn, 2013 → 2023: 39,745 → 41,428. 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 Woburn’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting from Woburn: about 25 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Woburn workers work from home, vs 19% across Massachusetts. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 19,687 commuters (the 16% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Woburn
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Woburn is more walkable than 91% of U.S. towns, #66 of 283 in Massachusetts. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 5.0% 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 23,428 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 92% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 29% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 3.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 75% 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). 5.5% of Woburn households have no vehicle (Massachusetts 11.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of Woburn’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Woburn is 456th among 985 U.S. towns of 31,000 to 59,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 22 | Lexington MA | 34,648 | $238K | 4.7% | 2.9% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 37 | Shrewsbury MA | 39,627 | $139K | 3.7% | 2.4% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 42 | Arlington MA | 46,563 | $151K | 5.4% | 2.9% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 454 | Holland MI | 35,372 | $76K | 10.3% | 2.5% | 27% | B+ |
| 455 | Caseyville Township IL | 34,825 | $87K | 7.4% | 5.0% | 12% | B+ |
| 456 | Woburn MA | 43,962 | $111K | 7.9% | 7.9% | 15% | B+ |
| 457 | Barnstable Town MA | 50,101 | $92K | 7.4% | 3.1% | 40% | B+ |
| 458 | University Place WA | 35,479 | $99K | 8.2% | 5.1% | 6% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 985 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Woburn, the top three, the last and three more from Massachusetts.
Woburn and its neighbors: 12% work next door
The biggest share goes to Burlington (5%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Woburn workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Woburn | – | B+ | A | 25 min | $111,185 |
| Burlington | 5% | A | A | 28 min | $146,436 |
| Reading | under 2% | A+ | A | 31 min | $165,912 |
| Winchester | 2% | A+ | A+ | 31 min | $230,198 |
| Lexington | 3% | A+ | A+ | 31 min | $238,444 |
| Stoneham | under 2% | A+ | A | 28 min | $113,964 |
| Wilmington | 2% | A | A− | 30 min | $168,152 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Woburn’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 Woburn: questions
What is the median household income in Woburn?
$111,185 (±$8,940) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $103,960 across Massachusetts and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Woburn?
7.9%, against 10.0% across Massachusetts and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Woburn?
25 minutes each way on average, against 29 across Massachusetts and 26 nationally. 16% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Woburn work?
15% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Boston (17%, 13 mi), Cambridge (7%, 8 mi), Burlington (5%, 3 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Woburn walkable?
Woburn is more walkable than 91% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 13.2 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Woburn without a car?
3% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 29% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Woburn, from the people who make the trip.
More of Woburn
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.