Springdale Farm · Photo: Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 4.0Burnham’s household incomes are lower than in 75% of U.S. towns
Only 4% work in Burnham itself; outside it, Bangor draws the most (9%, 31 miles). 13.6% of residents live below the poverty line, where Maine as a whole has 10.7%. For jobs and income Burnham is better than 11% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 25% of U.S. towns (C).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Burnham apart on work
The four measures behind Burnham’s grade
The poverty rate holds Burnham’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 6% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (6.2%) is left out: Burnham’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Burnham could be anywhere from D− to C+.
Where in the region Burnham works
About 18% 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.
Burnham on a workday afternoon
On a workday 367 residents head out to work, 14 work right here, and 205 people come in from elsewhere.
About 950 people are in Burnham on a workday afternoon, 15% fewer than live here.
0.57 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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 places Burnham commutes to
Where Burnham clocks in
9% of workers
8% 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.
Burnham makes things: 69% of its jobs are in goods
219 jobs are based in Burnham.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Burnham, 2013 → 2023: 186 → 219. 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 Burnham’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Burnham, about 22 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Burnham workers work from home, vs 16% across Maine. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 327 commuters (the 17% 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.
Getting around Burnham: mostly by car
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 2.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 5.0% across Maine, on an EPA index of 4.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 394 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). 2.4% of Burnham households have no vehicle (Maine 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Burnham’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Burnham is 3,008th of 3,771 U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 587 | Edgecomb ME | 1,214 | $109K | 5.6% | 3.1% | 3% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 904 | Georgetown ME | 1,101 | $84K | 6.3% | 3.5% | 4% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,008 | Wayne ME | 1,167 | $93K | 7.9% | 1.3% | 4% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 3,006 | Mount Gilead NC | 1,187 | $59K | 16.8% | 7.3% | 8% | D |
| 3,007 | Athens WV | 1,184 | $57K | 19.4% | 5.7% | <1% | D |
| 3,008 | Burnham ME | 1,108 | $59K | 13.6% | 6.2% | 4% | D |
| 3,009 | Benwood WV | 1,196 | $44K | 29.3% | 3.1% | 5% | D |
| 3,010 | Prairieton Township IN | 1,122 | $47K | 23.5% | 4.7% | 0% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,771 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Burnham, the top three, the last and three more from Maine.
Next door to Burnham
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Burnham workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burnham | – | D | C | 22 min | $59,261 |
| Pittsfield | 4% | C− | B+ | 24 min | $57,381 |
| Clinton | under 3% | B | D | 30 min | $71,458 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Pittsfield. Darker towns draw more of Burnham’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 Burnham: questions
What is the median household income in Burnham?
$59,261 (±$18,423) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,733 across Maine and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Burnham?
13.6%, against 10.7% across Maine and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Burnham?
22 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Maine and 26 nationally. 17% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Burnham work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Bangor (9%, 31 mi), Augusta (8%, 29 mi), Belfast (8%, 25 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Burnham walkable?
Burnham is more walkable than 25% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 4.2 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Burnham without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Burnham, from the people who make the trip.
More of Burnham
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.