Photo: Tichnor Brothers, Publisher · Public domainCarmel has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.2 for each
For 6% of workers, the job is at home, against 16% across Maine. There are 283 jobs in Carmel; 1,442 of its residents have a job. The two grades for Carmel are 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 Carmel, in a few figures
37% of Carmel works in Bangor
530 working residents, 37%, have their main job in Bangor, 11 miles away. That’s 6 times as many as work in Carmel itself. The commute map ↓
Carmel is a place people come home to
There are 283 jobs based in Carmel, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Carmel has about 1,900 people in it, 38% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
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.
Why Carmel gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Carmel is better than 53% of U.S. towns, #75 of 143 in Maine. Unemployment holds Carmel’s grade up (1.9%, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 30% 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, Carmel could be anywhere from C− to A−.
37% of working residents work in Bangor
Where Carmel clocks in
37% 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.
Carmel by day and by night
On a workday 1,361 residents head out to work, 81 work right here, and 202 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,900 people are in Carmel on a workday afternoon, 38% 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 kinds of work in Carmel
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Carmel, 2013 → 2023: 189 → 283. 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 Carmel’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Carmel takes about 25 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Carmel workers work from home, vs 16% across Maine. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,400 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Carmel
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.
Getting around Carmel: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Carmel is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns, #66 of 143 in Maine. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 5.0% across Maine, on an EPA index of 4.9.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,498 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). 5.4% of Carmel households have no vehicle (Maine 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Carmel’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Carmel is 2,136th among 4,771 U.S. towns of 2,100 to 4,100
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 309 | Dayton ME | 2,182 | $114K | 3.7% | 0.2% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 940 | Orrington ME | 3,912 | $95K | 6.6% | 1.7% | 4% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,013 | Kennebunkport ME | 3,717 | $103K | 4.6% | 3.7% | 14% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,134 | Martin Township MI | 2,721 | $72K | 7.4% | 5.8% | 8% | B− |
| 2,135 | Pine Level NC | 2,405 | $75K | 8.0% | 3.8% | 4% | B− |
| 2,136 | Carmel ME | 3,031 | $82K | 13.6% | 1.9% | 6% | B− |
| 2,137 | Walker Township PA | 2,790 | $73K | 8.0% | 2.0% | 13% | B− |
| 2,138 | Butler Township PA | 2,626 | $89K | 14.8% | 3.8% | 5% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,771 | 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 Carmel, the top three, the last and three more from Maine.
Carmel and its neighbors
The biggest share goes to Hermon (8%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Carmel’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 Carmel: questions
What is the median household income in Carmel?
$82,188 (±$22,272) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,733 across Maine and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Carmel?
13.6%, against 10.7% across Maine and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Carmel?
25 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Maine and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Carmel work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Bangor (37%, 11 mi), Hermon (8%, 4 mi), Brewer (8%, 13 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Carmel walkable?
Carmel is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 4.9 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Carmel without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Carmel, from the people who make the trip.
More of Carmel
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.