Benton Grange #458 · Photo: Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 4.0Most of Benton commutes out: there are 0.4 jobs for every working resident
Only 4% stay in Benton for work; outside it, Waterville is the main destination (24%, 8 miles). 513 jobs are based in Benton for 1,289 working residents. Benton grades B− for jobs and income and C− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Benton, in a few figures
Why Benton gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Benton is better than 46% of U.S. towns, #89 of 143 in Maine. Unemployment holds Benton’s grade up (1.7%, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 22% of U.S. towns).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Benton could be anywhere from C− to B.
About 20 minutes each way, quicker than most of Maine
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Benton workers work from home, vs 16% across Maine. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,226 commuters (the 7% 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.
A workday in Benton: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 1,236 residents head out to work, 53 work right here, and 460 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,000 people are in Benton on a workday afternoon, 28% 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.
The towns that employ Benton’s residents
Where Benton clocks in
24% of workers
13% of workers
8% 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 Benton: what the 513 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Benton, 2013 → 2023: 574 → 513. 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 Benton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Benton
About 16% 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.
In Benton, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Benton is more walkable than 16% of U.S. towns, #120 of 143 in Maine. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 1.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 5.0% across Maine, on an EPA index of 4.5.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,314 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). 6.3% of Benton households have no vehicle (Maine 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Benton’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Benton ranks: 2,421st of 4,703 U.S. towns of 2,000 to 3,800
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 291 | Dayton ME | 2,182 | $114K | 3.7% | 0.2% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 967 | Kennebunkport ME | 3,717 | $103K | 4.6% | 3.7% | 14% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 971 | Minot ME | 2,866 | $96K | 6.2% | 1.6% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,419 | Ashley PA | 2,627 | $57K | 23.9% | 1.8% | 1% | B− |
| 2,420 | Inman SC | 3,458 | $64K | 15.4% | 3.5% | 3% | B− |
| 2,421 | Benton ME | 2,821 | $61K | 10.0% | 1.7% | 4% | B− |
| 2,422 | Northampton NY | 2,482 | $72K | 6.4% | 3.4% | 14% | B− |
| 2,423 | Center Township PA | 2,430 | $70K | 12.4% | 1.9% | 2% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,703 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 12% | 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 Benton, the top three, the last and three more from Maine.
The towns next door employ 16% of Benton
The biggest share goes to Fairfield (8%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Benton’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 Benton: questions
What is the median household income in Benton?
$61,437 (±$4,881) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,733 across Maine and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Benton?
10.0%, against 10.7% across Maine and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Benton?
20 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Maine and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Benton work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Waterville (24%, 8 mi), Augusta (13%, 21 mi), Fairfield (8%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Benton walkable?
Benton is more walkable than 16% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 4.5 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Benton 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 Benton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Benton
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.