Caleb R. Ayer House · Photo: John Phelan · CC BY-SA 3.0Jobs and the daily commute in Cornish
About one in ten stay in Cornish for work; outside it, Portland is the main destination (11%, 32 miles). Jobs and income earn Cornish C+; getting around on foot earns it B+. 8% of workers work from home (Maine 16%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Cornish
Cornish’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Cornish is Portland, 33 miles away as the crow flies. 11% of working residents (82) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Cornish
57% of Cornish residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 33% of the jobs based in Cornish pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 91% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Many jobs in Cornish pay little
29% of the jobs based in Cornish pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. Young workers hold many of them: 35% of all the jobs here go to people 29 or younger. The jobs ↓
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; with 745 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where Cornish’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Cornish is better than 40% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Cornish’s grade up (6.3%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 3% of U.S. towns). It also does well on unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Cornish could be anywhere from C− to B.
The commute from Cornish, by distance
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.
Jobs in Cornish: what the 498 are
498 jobs are based in Cornish.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Cornish, 2013 → 2023: 394 → 498. 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 Cornish’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who leaves Cornish for work, and who comes in
On a workday 681 residents head out to work, 64 work right here, and 434 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,400 people are in Cornish on a workday afternoon, 15% fewer than live here.
0.67 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.
Out of Cornish to work: where people go
Where Cornish clocks in
11% of workers
5% 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.
Time on the road from Cornish: about 31 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Cornish workers work from home, vs 16% across Maine. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 903 commuters (the 9% 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.
Driving is how Cornish gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Cornish is more walkable than 69% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 5.0% across Maine, on an EPA index of 7.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 987 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). 4.9% of Cornish households have no vehicle (Maine 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Cornish’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Cornish ranks: 2,940th of 6,161 U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,200
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 275 | Dayton ME | 2,182 | $114K | 3.7% | 0.2% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 556 | Ogunquit ME | 1,606 | $114K | 3.2% | 0.0% | 22% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 603 | Pownal ME | 1,645 | $104K | 5.5% | 0.7% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,938 | Monona IA | 1,444 | $74K | 7.3% | 0.9% | 13% | C+ |
| 2,939 | Spring Grove MN | 1,206 | $60K | 4.0% | 7.2% | 18% | C+ |
| 2,940 | Cornish ME | 1,602 | $69K | 6.3% | 3.8% | 9% | C+ |
| 2,941 | Woodbury Township PA | 1,414 | $77K | 9.7% | 1.5% | 5% | C+ |
| 2,942 | Guilford VT | 2,082 | $75K | 10.6% | 3.7% | 4% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6,161 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 Cornish, the top three, the last and three more from Maine.
How Cornish compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Hiram (5%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Cornish workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cornish | – | C+ | B+ | 31 min | $69,038 |
| Hiram | 5% | D | D− | 31 min | $62,813 |
| Baldwin | under 3% | C | D− | 32 min | $68,045 |
| Parsonsfield | 3% | C− | C− | 48 min | $72,045 |
| Limington | under 3% | A− | D | 35 min | $84,675 |
| Limerick | under 3% | B+ | C | 38 min | $101,172 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Cornish’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 Cornish: questions
What is the median household income in Cornish?
$69,038 (±$3,654) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,733 across Maine and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Cornish?
6.3%, against 10.7% across Maine and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Cornish?
31 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Maine and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Cornish work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Portland (11%, 32 mi), South Portland (5%, 28 mi), Hiram (5%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Cornish walkable?
Cornish is more walkable than 69% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.2 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Cornish 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 Cornish, from the people who make the trip.
More of Cornish
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.