Photo: Anewt72690 · CC BY-SA 3.0More people are out of work in Blue Hill (5.4%) than in 67% of U.S. towns
About one in four work in Blue Hill itself; outside it, Ellsworth draws the most (15%, 13 miles). Blue Hill grades C+ for jobs and income and A− for walkability. Working residents average 21 minutes each way; Maine averages 25, the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Blue Hill in brief
Inside Blue Hill’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Blue Hill is better than 44% of U.S. towns, #93 of 143 in Maine. The poverty rate holds Blue Hill’s grade up (4.7%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 9% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Blue Hill could be anywhere from D to A−.
Blue Hill by day and by night
On a workday 769 residents head out to work, 266 work right here, and 960 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.18 per resident).
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 the trip to work from Blue Hill ends
Where Blue Hill clocks in
15% of workers
7% of workers
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.
The kinds of work in Blue Hill
1,226 jobs are based in Blue Hill.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Blue Hill, 2013 → 2023: 1,168 → 1,226. 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 Blue Hill’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 21 minutes each way for Blue Hill’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Blue Hill workers work from home, vs 16% across Maine. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,030 commuters (the 21% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Blue Hill
About 19% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Blue Hill
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Blue Hill is more walkable than 81% of U.S. towns, #16 of 143 in Maine. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 7.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 5.0% across Maine, on an EPA index of 7.6.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,304 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). 11.7% of Blue Hill households have no vehicle (Maine 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of Blue Hill’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 2,000 to 3,800, Blue Hill ranks 2,573rd of 4,703 on jobs and income
| # | 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− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,571 | Keego Harbor MI | 2,723 | $65K | 15.6% | 5.6% | 4% | C+ |
| 2,572 | Washington Township IN | 3,428 | $51K | 6.6% | 4.1% | 1% | C+ |
| 2,573 | Blue Hill ME | 2,798 | $80K | 4.7% | 5.4% | 26% | C+ |
| 2,574 | Root NY | 2,002 | $76K | 6.5% | 1.6% | 2% | C+ |
| 2,575 | Dorset VT | 2,113 | $111K | 11.2% | 4.3% | 17% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 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 Blue Hill, the top three, the last and three more from Maine.
Blue Hill and the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Surry (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Blue Hill workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Hill | – | C+ | A− | 21 min | $80,377 |
| Surry | 3% | C+ | D | 31 min | $74,508 |
| Sedgwick | under 2% | D | C+ | 23 min | $70,446 |
| Mount Desert | under 2% | B− | A− | 18 min | $92,813 |
| Tremont | under 2% | B− | B− | 24 min | $88,803 |
| Penobscot | under 2% | D | B− | 25 min | $63,194 |
| Brooklin | under 2% | — | — | 26 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Brooklin: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Blue Hill’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 Blue Hill: questions
What is the median household income in Blue Hill?
$80,377 (±$17,357) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,733 across Maine and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Blue Hill?
4.7%, against 10.7% across Maine and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Blue Hill?
21 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Maine and 26 nationally. 21% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Blue Hill work?
26% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Ellsworth (15%, 13 mi), Bar Harbor (7%, 13 mi), Bangor (5%, 32 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Blue Hill walkable?
Blue Hill is more walkable than 81% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.6 out of 20, and 8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Blue Hill without a car?
3% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Blue Hill, from the people who make the trip.
More of Blue Hill
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.