Joseph H. Underwood House · Photo: Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 4.0Fayette has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.2 for each
Jobs and income earn Fayette C−; getting around on foot earns it B. Fayette has 105 jobs; 520 of its residents have a job. Only 3% stay in Fayette for work; outside it, Augusta is the main destination (24%, 18 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Fayette
Fayette is a place people come home to
There are 105 jobs based in Fayette, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Fayette has about 860 people in it, 32% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Fayette workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 33 minutes each way, against 25 across Maine. Over a year that’s about 253 hours of commuting, 61 more than the state’s typical worker. 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 520 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Why Fayette gets the Jobs & income grade it does
The poverty rate holds Fayette’s grade up (7.9%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 8% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (3.4%) is left out: Fayette’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Fayette could be anywhere from D to B−.
Fayette quiets down on a workday
On a workday 503 residents head out to work, 17 work right here, and 88 people come in from elsewhere.
About 860 people are in Fayette on a workday afternoon, 32% 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.
About 33 minutes each way, longer than most of Maine
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fayette workers work from home, vs 16% across Maine. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 378 commuters (the 22% 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 Fayette goes to work
Where Fayette clocks in
24% 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.
Goods, not services: 43% of the jobs in Fayette
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fayette, 2013 → 2023: 117 → 105. 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 Fayette’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Miles to work from Fayette
About 15% 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.
The commute in Fayette is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Fayette is more walkable than 64% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 6.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 5.0% across Maine, on an EPA index of 6.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 485 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 Fayette households have no vehicle (Maine 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Fayette’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Fayette is 3,111th of 4,866 U.S. towns of 900 to 1,700
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 378 | Ogunquit ME | 1,606 | $114K | 3.2% | 0.0% | 22% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 406 | Pownal ME | 1,645 | $104K | 5.5% | 0.7% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 782 | Edgecomb ME | 1,214 | $109K | 5.6% | 3.1% | 3% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,109 | Dresden OH | 1,646 | $58K | 14.0% | 2.9% | 4% | C− |
| 3,110 | Halbert Township IN | 1,552 | $71K | 12.1% | 0.0% | 15% | C− |
| 3,111 | Fayette ME | 1,277 | $60K | 7.9% | 3.4% | 3% | C− |
| 3,112 | Scott Township OH | 1,333 | $61K | 9.5% | 4.0% | <1% | C− |
| 3,113 | Taylor Township PA | 1,055 | $75K | 11.5% | 2.0% | 9% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,866 | 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 Fayette, the top three, the last and three more from Maine.
The towns around Fayette
The biggest share goes to Readfield (4%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Fayette workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fayette | – | C− | B | 33 min | $59,500 |
| Mount Vernon | under 3% | C+ | D | 32 min | $74,395 |
| Readfield | 4% | B− | B | 30 min | $86,504 |
| Livermore Falls | under 3% | D | C | 36 min | $45,843 |
| Chesterville | under 3% | C− | C+ | 25 min | $61,635 |
| Wayne | under 3% | B | C+ | 30 min | $93,194 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Fayette’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 Fayette: questions
What is the median household income in Fayette?
$59,500 (±$16,916) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,733 across Maine and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fayette?
7.9%, against 10.7% across Maine and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fayette?
33 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Maine and 26 nationally. 22% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fayette work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Augusta (24%, 18 mi), Winthrop (5%, 10 mi), Lewiston (5%, 24 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Fayette walkable?
Fayette is more walkable than 64% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 6.2 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Fayette 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 Fayette, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fayette
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.