Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Bar Harbor has 2.0 jobs for every working resident: 2,996 people commute in to work
More than half stay in Bar Harbor for work; outside it, Mount Desert is the main destination (6%, 6 miles). Employers in Bar Harbor report 4,166 jobs; 2,068 of its residents have a job. Bar Harbor grades C+ 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
Bar Harbor at work: what stands out
Bar Harbor is where the jobs are
Bar Harbor has 4,166 jobs, 2.0 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
The biggest group of Bar Harbor’s workers comes from Ellsworth
535 of the people who work in Bar Harbor live in Ellsworth, 17 miles away, more than from any other town. The commute map ↓
Commutes from Bar Harbor are quick
The average trip to work takes 20 minutes, against 25 across Maine. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical Maine worker. Time on the road ↓
Most jobs in Bar Harbor pay over $40,000 a year
72% of the jobs based in Bar Harbor pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), the top earnings band in the Census data. The jobs ↓
Nearly all the work in Bar Harbor is services
86% of the jobs based here are in services, such as health care, schools and offices. Only 6% are in factories, building or farms. 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.
The figures behind Bar Harbor’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Bar Harbor is better than 36% of U.S. towns, #104 of 143 in Maine. Household income holds Bar Harbor’s grade up ($77,180, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 12% of U.S. towns).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Bar Harbor could be anywhere from D to B+.
In and out of Bar Harbor on a workday
On a workday 898 residents head out to work and 1,170 work right here.
About 7,500 people are in Bar Harbor on a workday afternoon, 39% 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 Bar Harbor’s workforce comes from
Where Bar Harbor clocks in
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.
Bar Harbor’s commute takes about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bar Harbor workers work from home, vs 16% across Maine. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,105 commuters (the 22% 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.
In Bar Harbor, services account for most jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bar Harbor, 2013 → 2023: 3,677 → 4,166. 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 Bar Harbor’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Miles to work from Bar Harbor
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.
Bar Harbor 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, Bar Harbor is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns, #12 of 143 in Maine. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 18.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 5.0% across Maine, on an EPA index of 7.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,694 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). 7.9% of Bar Harbor households have no vehicle (Maine 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Bar Harbor’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 3,651 U.S. towns of 3,700 to 7,200, Bar Harbor comes 2,495th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 358 | North Yarmouth ME | 4,424 | $129K | 4.8% | 1.9% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 758 | Arundel ME | 4,596 | $102K | 5.9% | 3.0% | 9% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 785 | Hollis ME | 5,003 | $96K | 5.7% | 1.8% | 6% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,493 | Guadalupe AZ | 5,093 | $51K | 27.1% | 4.5% | <1% | C+ |
| 2,494 | Alexandria IN | 5,223 | $64K | 7.8% | 7.2% | 9% | C+ |
| 2,495 | Bar Harbor ME | 5,352 | $77K | 10.1% | 4.4% | 57% | C+ |
| 2,496 | River Park FL | 5,714 | $55K | 6.7% | 9.5% | 1% | C+ |
| 2,497 | Berne IN | 4,286 | $62K | 12.3% | 4.0% | 34% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,651 | 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 Bar Harbor, the top three, the last and three more from Maine.
The towns around Bar Harbor
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Bar Harbor workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bar Harbor | – | C+ | A− | 20 min | $77,180 |
| Gouldsboro | under 1% | C− | D | 36 min | $60,873 |
| Trenton | 1% | D | C | 29 min | $60,455 |
| Lamoine | under 1% | C | D | 22 min | $88,542 |
| Mount Desert | 6% | B− | A− | 18 min | $92,813 |
| Winter Harbor | under 1% | — | — | 25 min | — |
| Hancock | under 1% | C+ | C− | 29 min | $72,285 |
Same-state neighbors only. Winter Harbor: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Mount Desert. Darker towns draw more of Bar Harbor’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 Bar Harbor: questions
What is the median household income in Bar Harbor?
$77,180 (±$26,183) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,733 across Maine and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bar Harbor?
10.1%, against 10.7% across Maine and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bar Harbor?
20 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Maine and 26 nationally. 22% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bar Harbor work?
57% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Mount Desert (6%, 6 mi), Ellsworth (5%, 17 mi), Southwest Harbor (3%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Bar Harbor walkable?
Bar Harbor is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 19% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bar Harbor without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Bar Harbor, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bar Harbor
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.