District No. 5 School · Photo: Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 3.0Most of Alfred commutes out: there are 0.5 jobs for every working resident
8% of workers have no commute at all (Maine 16%). 680 jobs are based in Alfred; 1,386 of its residents have a job. For jobs and income Alfred is better than 65% of U.S. towns (B); for walkability it is more walkable than 21% of U.S. towns (C−).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Alfred’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
Unemployment holds Alfred’s grade up (2.0%, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 40% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Alfred could be anywhere from C to A.
Who commutes out of Alfred, and who commutes in
On a workday 1,299 residents head out to work, 87 work right here, and 593 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,500 people are in Alfred on a workday afternoon, 22% 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.
12% of working residents work in Sanford
Where Alfred clocks in
12% of workers
10% 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.
Jobs in Alfred: what the 680 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Alfred, 2013 → 2023: 577 → 680. 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 Alfred’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The trip to work from Alfred: about 28 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Alfred workers work from home, vs 16% across Maine. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,430 commuters (the 8% who work from home are left out). Across Maine: 84% drive alone, 1% 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 Alfred goes to work
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 Alfred: mostly by car
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 5.0% across Maine.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,547 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 5.6% of Alfred households have no vehicle (Maine 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Alfred’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Alfred is 1,501st among 4,698 U.S. towns of 2,200 to 4,300
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 784 | Limington ME | 4,173 | $85K | 3.4% | 0.4% | 5% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 940 | Orrington ME | 3,912 | $95K | 6.6% | 1.7% | 4% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,016 | Kennebunkport ME | 3,717 | $103K | 4.6% | 3.7% | 14% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,499 | Belgium WI | 2,540 | $75K | 3.0% | 5.2% | 7% | B |
| 1,500 | Harrison Township IN | 3,447 | $68K | 3.9% | 4.3% | 6% | B |
| 1,501 | Alfred ME | 3,188 | $82K | 9.0% | 2.0% | 6% | B |
| 1,502 | Collierville CA | 2,546 | $116K | 5.6% | 16.6% | 1% | B |
| 1,503 | Ravena NY | 3,253 | $77K | 5.8% | 4.4% | 5% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 4,698 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Alfred, the top three, the last and three more from Maine.
Alfred and its neighbors: 17% work next door
The biggest share goes to Sanford (12%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Alfred’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 Alfred: questions
What is the median household income in Alfred?
$82,321 (±$17,651) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,733 across Maine and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Alfred?
9.0%, against 10.7% across Maine and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Alfred?
28 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Maine and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Alfred work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Sanford (12%, 4 mi), Portland (10%, 29 mi), Biddeford (7%, 17 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Alfred walkable?
Alfred is more walkable than 21% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.8 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Alfred without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Alfred, from the people who make the trip.
More of Alfred
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.