Exeter has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.2 for each
Exeter grades C+ for jobs and income and C− for walkability. 94 jobs are based in Exeter, against 422 working residents. Only 6% work in Exeter itself; outside it, Bangor draws the most (20%, 19 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Exeter at work: what stands out
Exeter is a place people come home to
There are 94 jobs based in Exeter, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Exeter has about 670 people in it, 33% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Exeter workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 35 minutes each way, against 25 across Maine. Over a year that’s about 268 hours of commuting, 77 more than the state’s typical worker. Every town next door averages less (26 to 32 minutes). Time on the road ↓
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 422 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Income, poverty and work: Exeter’s grade explained
On income, poverty and job access, Exeter is better than 41% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Exeter’s grade up ($84,408, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 8% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate.
Unemployment (2.4%) is left out: Exeter’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, Exeter could be anywhere from C to B.
Exeter quiets down on a workday
On a workday 396 residents head out to work, 26 work right here, and 68 people come in from elsewhere.
About 670 people are in Exeter on a workday afternoon, 33% 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 daily trip from Exeter: about 35 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Exeter workers work from home, vs 16% across Maine. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 602 commuters (the 10% 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.
Where people from Exeter work
Where Exeter clocks in
20% of workers
7% of workers
4% 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.
In Exeter, 71% of jobs are in factories, building or farming
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Exeter, 2013 → 2023: 76 → 94. 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 Exeter’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Near or far: the trip to work from Exeter
About 21% 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.
In Exeter, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Exeter is more walkable than 22% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 2.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 5.0% across Maine, on an EPA index of 2.8.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 671 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). 1.6% of Exeter households have no vehicle (Maine 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Exeter’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Exeter is 1,342nd among 3,133 U.S. towns of 700 to 1,400
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 467 | Edgecomb ME | 1,214 | $109K | 5.6% | 3.1% | 3% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 730 | Georgetown ME | 1,101 | $84K | 6.3% | 3.5% | 4% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 818 | Wayne ME | 1,167 | $93K | 7.9% | 1.3% | 4% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,340 | Albion Township MI | 1,086 | $76K | 11.1% | 1.1% | 1% | C+ |
| 1,341 | Sheridan CA | 1,183 | $96K | 12.3% | 9.9% | 1% | C+ |
| 1,342 | Exeter ME | 1,002 | $84K | 8.1% | 2.4% | 6% | C+ |
| 1,343 | Scott Township OH | 1,334 | $76K | 11.7% | 10.1% | 2% | C+ |
| 1,344 | Thompson Township PA | 1,039 | $82K | 6.5% | 0.9% | 1% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,133 | 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 Exeter, the top three, the last and three more from Maine.
Next door to Exeter
The biggest share goes to Garland (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Exeter’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 Exeter: questions
What is the median household income in Exeter?
$84,408 (±$11,616) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,733 across Maine and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Exeter?
8.1%, against 10.7% across Maine and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Exeter?
35 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Maine and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Exeter work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Bangor (20%, 19 mi), Dexter (7%, 9 mi), Brewer (4%, 23 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Exeter walkable?
Exeter is more walkable than 22% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 2.8 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Exeter 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 Exeter, from the people who make the trip.
More of Exeter
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.