Photo: Seasider53 · CC BY 4.0Freeport draws 5,837 commuters a day, with 1.8 jobs for every working resident
Employers in Freeport report 6,566 jobs for 3,652 working residents. Freeport grades B+ for jobs and income and A− for walkability. Household incomes here are higher than in 82% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Freeport in brief
Freeport is where the jobs are
Freeport has 6,566 jobs, 1.8 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
The biggest group of Freeport’s workers comes from Portland
525 of the people who work in Freeport live in Portland, 15 miles away, more than from any other town. The commute map ↓
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.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Freeport
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Freeport is better than 68% of U.S. towns, #44 of 143 in Maine. Household income holds Freeport’s grade up ($107,326, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down (4.8%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Freeport could be anywhere from C+ to A.
How a workday changes Freeport
On a workday 2,923 residents head out to work and 729 work right here.
About 12,000 people are in Freeport on a workday afternoon, 33% more 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.
Commuting in to Freeport: where workers come from
Where Freeport clocks in
22% of workers
6% 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.
What Freeport’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Freeport, 2013 → 2023: 6,164 → 6,566. 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 Freeport’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 24 minutes in Freeport
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Freeport workers work from home, vs 16% across Maine. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,250 commuters (the 21% 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.
Freeport’s commute, mile by mile
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.
Freeport is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Freeport is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns, #19 of 143 in Maine. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 7.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 5.0% across Maine, on an EPA index of 7.6.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 4,125 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 20% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.8 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 55% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 1.9% of Freeport households have no vehicle (Maine 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Freeport’s commuters take a bus or train.
1,187th of 2,862: where Freeport ranks among U.S. towns of 6,300 to 12,100
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Pimmit Hills VA | 6,589 | $173K | 1.6% | 1.3% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Braddock VA | 6,536 | $212K | 0.9% | 1.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 94 | Cumberland ME | 8,876 | $174K | 3.1% | 0.2% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 319 | Cape Elizabeth ME | 9,827 | $146K | 5.2% | 2.5% | 10% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 377 | Buxton ME | 8,681 | $100K | 2.3% | 1.4% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,185 | Fletcher NC | 8,373 | $75K | 7.6% | 3.0% | 7% | B+ |
| 1,186 | King NC | 7,977 | $58K | 7.0% | 1.0% | 7% | B+ |
| 1,187 | Freeport ME | 8,934 | $107K | 8.5% | 4.8% | 20% | B+ |
| 1,188 | Mad River Township OH | 10,961 | $84K | 8.2% | 4.0% | 9% | B+ |
| 1,189 | Oakwood GA | 7,245 | $68K | 8.1% | 3.0% | 7% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,862 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Freeport, the top three, the last and three more from Maine.
Freeport and its neighbors: 11% work next door
The biggest share goes to Brunswick (6%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Freeport workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Freeport | – | B+ | A− | 24 min | $107,326 |
| Yarmouth | 5% | B+ | B | 27 min | $110,216 |
| Brunswick | 6% | B | A | 23 min | $74,952 |
| Harpswell | under 3% | A− | C− | 30 min | $96,250 |
| Pownal | under 3% | A− | D | 30 min | $104,333 |
| Durham | under 3% | B | D | 28 min | $99,181 |
| Chebeague Island | under 3% | — | — | 22 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Chebeague Island: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Freeport’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 Freeport: questions
What is the median household income in Freeport?
$107,326 (±$19,268) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,733 across Maine and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Freeport?
8.5%, against 10.7% across Maine and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Freeport?
24 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Maine and 26 nationally. 21% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Freeport work?
20% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Portland (22%, 15 mi), Brunswick (6%, 7 mi), Yarmouth (5%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Freeport walkable?
Freeport is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.6 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Freeport without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Freeport, from the people who make the trip.
More of Freeport
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.