Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Unemployment in Calais (5.8%) is higher than in 72% of U.S. towns
For jobs and income Calais is better than 10% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 69% of U.S. towns (B+). 3% of workers work from home; Maine has 16%. About two in five work in Calais itself; outside it, Baileyville draws the most (10%, 11 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Calais apart on work
Commutes from Calais are quick
The average trip to work takes 16 minutes, against 25 across Maine. That’s about 69 hours a year less on the road than the typical Maine worker. Time on the road ↓
Few Calais workers work from home
Only 3% of workers work from home, against 16% across Maine. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
A big share show a job far from home
35% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
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.
Income, poverty and work: Calais’ grade explained
Household income holds Calais’ grade up ($64,096, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 5% of U.S. towns).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Calais could be anywhere from D− to C+.
About 16 minutes each way, quicker than most of Maine
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Calais workers work from home, vs 16% across Maine. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,295 commuters (the 3% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Calais
About 35% 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.
A workday in Calais: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 666 residents head out to work, 533 work right here, and 1,141 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,600 people are in Calais on a workday afternoon, 15% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.40 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 people from Calais work
Where Calais clocks in
10% of workers
5% 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.
Inside Calais’ 1,674 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Calais, 2013 → 2023: 1,984 → 1,674. 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 Calais’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Driving is how Calais gets around
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 5.0% across Maine.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,329 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). 5.7% of Calais households have no vehicle (Maine 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Calais’ commuters take a bus or train.
How Calais ranks: 4,075th of 4,562 U.S. towns of 2,200 to 4,200
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 760 | Limington ME | 4,173 | $85K | 3.4% | 0.4% | 5% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 914 | Orrington ME | 3,912 | $95K | 6.6% | 1.7% | 4% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 987 | Kennebunkport ME | 3,717 | $103K | 4.6% | 3.7% | 14% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,073 | Hawthorne NV | 2,809 | $67K | 14.5% | 9.0% | 34% | D |
| 4,074 | Orchard City CO | 3,299 | $56K | 21.5% | 4.7% | 7% | D |
| 4,075 | Calais ME | 3,083 | $64K | 21.4% | 5.8% | 44% | D |
| 4,076 | Liberty Township OH | 2,581 | $64K | 29.5% | 5.1% | 4% | D |
| 4,077 | Burgaw NC | 3,903 | $68K | 19.7% | 8.5% | 12% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,562 | 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 Calais, the top three, the last and three more from Maine.
Next door to Calais
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Calais workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calais | – | D | B+ | 16 min | $64,096 |
| Baring plantation | under 2% | — | — | 13 min | — |
| Robbinston | under 2% | — | — | 22 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Baring plantation and Robbinston: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Calais’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 Calais: questions
What is the median household income in Calais?
$64,096 (±$9,954) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,733 across Maine and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Calais?
21.4%, against 10.7% across Maine and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Calais?
16 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Maine and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Calais work?
44% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Baileyville (10%, 11 mi), Bangor (5%, 80 mi), Ellsworth (3%, 73 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Calais walkable?
Calais is more walkable than 69% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 9.0 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Calais 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 Calais, from the people who make the trip.
More of Calais
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.