Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Unemployment in Auburn (7.0%) is higher than in 82% of U.S. towns
The trip to work takes 22 minutes on average, next to 25 for Maine and 26 for the U.S. Measured by household income, Auburn is behind 63% of U.S. towns. For jobs and income Auburn is better than 32% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 72% of U.S. towns (B+). There are 16,564 jobs in Auburn for 10,513 working residents.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Auburn, in brief
Auburn and Lewiston trade workers both ways
Lewiston is the top workplace for Auburn residents (24%) and also where the most people who work in Auburn come from (16% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Auburn is where the jobs are
Auburn has 16,564 jobs, 1.6 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
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 drives the Jobs & income grade in Auburn
Job access by car holds Auburn’s grade up (ahead of 65% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Auburn could be anywhere from C− to B−.
Where Auburn’s workers come from
Where Auburn clocks in
24% of workers
7% of workers
3% 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 commutes out of Auburn, and who commutes in
On a workday 7,712 residents head out to work, 2,801 work right here, and 13,763 people come in from elsewhere.
About 31,000 people are in Auburn on a workday afternoon, 24% more than live here.
1.6 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
The kinds of work in Auburn
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Auburn, 2013 → 2023: 15,383 → 16,564. 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 Auburn’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The trip to work from Auburn: about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Auburn workers work from home, vs 16% across Maine. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 10,092 commuters (the 12% 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.
Where in the region Auburn works
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 Auburn walk, bike or ride to work
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 11,405 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). 10.5% of Auburn households have no vehicle (Maine 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Auburn’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 18,000 to 34,000, Auburn ranks 1,252nd of 1,516 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 150 | Scarborough ME | 24,547 | $134K | 4.4% | 2.2% | 19% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 172 | Windham ME | 19,912 | $108K | 3.4% | 1.5% | 13% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 260 | Gorham ME | 19,239 | $112K | 3.7% | 2.6% | 13% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,250 | Kingston NY | 23,942 | $68K | 17.6% | 5.4% | 27% | C |
| 1,251 | Montrose CO | 21,583 | $70K | 11.6% | 5.0% | 52% | C |
| 1,252 | Auburn ME | 25,441 | $67K | 13.8% | 7.0% | 27% | C |
| 1,253 | Oxford AL | 22,199 | $74K | 15.8% | 5.5% | 19% | C |
| 1,254 | Arcata CA | 19,047 | $47K | 27.2% | 11.9% | 36% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 1,516 | 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 Auburn, the top three, the last and three more from Maine.
The towns next door employ 24% of Auburn
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Auburn workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Auburn | – | C | B+ | 22 min | $66,647 |
| Lewiston | 24% | C | A | 21 min | $55,393 |
| Minot | under 2% | A− | C− | 25 min | $95,655 |
| Poland | under 2% | B | D | 28 min | $85,557 |
| Greene | under 2% | B+ | D | 26 min | $98,093 |
| Durham | under 2% | B | D | 28 min | $99,181 |
| New Gloucester | under 2% | B+ | B | 27 min | $108,797 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Lewiston. Darker towns draw more of Auburn’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 Auburn: questions
What is the median household income in Auburn?
$66,647 (±$4,610) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,733 across Maine and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Auburn?
13.8%, against 10.7% across Maine and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Auburn?
22 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Maine and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Auburn work?
27% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lewiston (24%, 4 mi), Portland (7%, 31 mi), Augusta (3%, 31 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Auburn walkable?
Auburn is more walkable than 72% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.2 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Auburn without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Auburn, from the people who make the trip.
More of Auburn
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.