Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0There are 2.6 jobs in Bangor for every working resident, and 28,498 people commute in
Jobs and income earn Bangor C; getting around on foot earns it A. Bangor has 35,792 jobs; 13,754 of its residents have a job. More than half stay in Bangor for work; outside it, Brewer is the main destination (7%, 4 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Bangor apart
Bangor is where the jobs are
Bangor has 35,792 jobs, 2.6 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 55,000 people are in town, 68% more than the 33,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Bangor are quick
The average trip to work takes 17 minutes, against 25 across Maine. That’s about 61 hours a year less on the road than the typical Maine worker. Time on the road ↓
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.
Why Bangor gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Bangor is better than 34% of U.S. towns, #106 of 143 in Maine. Job access by car holds Bangor’s grade up (ahead of 60% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (17.9%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Bangor could be anywhere from C− to B−.
The workday shuffle in and out of Bangor
On a workday 6,460 residents head out to work and 7,294 work right here.
About 55,000 people are in Bangor on a workday afternoon, 68% more than live here.
2.6 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 trip to work from Bangor: about 17 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bangor workers work from home, vs 16% across Maine. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 13,955 commuters (the 10% 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.
Commuting in to Bangor: where workers come from
Where Bangor clocks in
7% of workers
4% 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.
What Bangor’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bangor, 2013 → 2023: 33,721 → 35,792. 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 Bangor’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The distance from Bangor to work
About 17% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Bangor
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Bangor is more walkable than 89% of U.S. towns, #8 of 143 in Maine. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 10.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 5.0% across Maine, on an EPA index of 8.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 15,522 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). 14.8% of Bangor households have no vehicle (Maine 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Bangor’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Bangor is 1,050th among 1,283 U.S. towns of 23,000 to 44,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 132 | Scarborough ME | 24,547 | $134K | 4.4% | 2.2% | 19% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 403 | South Portland ME | 27,007 | $87K | 6.9% | 2.6% | 21% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 799 | Brunswick ME | 23,055 | $75K | 7.7% | 4.6% | 25% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,048 | East Lake-Orient Park FL | 29,213 | $57K | 17.8% | 6.0% | 11% | C |
| 1,049 | Bell CA | 31,625 | $61K | 21.6% | 6.9% | 4% | C |
| 1,050 | Bangor ME | 32,518 | $60K | 17.9% | 4.1% | 53% | C |
| 1,051 | Panama City FL | 37,806 | $62K | 17.6% | 4.5% | 39% | C |
| 1,052 | Florence AZ | 25,222 | $80K | 6.9% | 6.6% | 9% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 1,283 | 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 Bangor, the top three, the last and three more from Maine.
16% of Bangor works in a bordering town
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Bangor workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bangor | – | C | A | 17 min | $59,942 |
| Brewer | 7% | B | B− | 17 min | $66,613 |
| Veazie | under 2% | B | C | 18 min | $78,229 |
| Orono | 4% | B+ | A− | 15 min | $61,528 |
| Hermon | 2% | A− | D | 23 min | $96,629 |
| Hampden | 3% | A− | C− | 23 min | $111,959 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Brewer. Darker towns draw more of Bangor’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 Bangor: questions
What is the median household income in Bangor?
$59,942 (±$7,028) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,733 across Maine and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bangor?
17.9%, against 10.7% across Maine and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bangor?
17 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Maine and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bangor work?
53% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Brewer (7%, 4 mi), Orono (4%, 4 mi), Augusta (3%, 58 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Bangor walkable?
Bangor is more walkable than 89% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.4 out of 20, and 11% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bangor without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 15% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Bangor, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bangor
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.