Hope has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.3 for each
Hope has 207 jobs, and 681 of its residents work somewhere. Jobs and income earn Hope B−; getting around on foot earns it B−. Only 6% work in Hope itself; outside it, Rockland draws the most (12%, 9 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Hope
Hope is a place people come home to
There are 207 jobs based in Hope, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Hope has about 1,300 people in it, 27% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Hope are quick
The average trip to work takes 20 minutes, against 25 across Maine. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical Maine 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 681 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Hope
On income, poverty and job access, Hope is better than 53% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Hope’s grade up (5.3%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 11% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (1.9%) is left out: Hope’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, Hope could be anywhere from C+ to B.
The daily commute in and out of Hope
On a workday 642 residents head out to work, 39 work right here, and 168 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,300 people are in Hope on a workday afternoon, 27% 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.
Getting to work from Hope takes about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Hope workers work from home, vs 16% across Maine. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 703 commuters (the 18% 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 Hope goes to work
Where Hope clocks in
12% of workers
11% of workers
10% 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.
Hope makes things: 32% of its jobs are in goods
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Hope, 2013 → 2023: 223 → 207. 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 Hope’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many miles Hope commutes
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.
Driving is how Hope gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Hope is more walkable than 45% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 3.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 5.0% across Maine, on an EPA index of 5.7.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 860 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). 1.3% of Hope households have no vehicle (Maine 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Hope’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 5,760 U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,300, Hope comes 2,019th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 263 | Dayton ME | 2,182 | $114K | 3.7% | 0.2% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 543 | Ogunquit ME | 1,606 | $114K | 3.2% | 0.0% | 22% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 591 | Pownal ME | 1,645 | $104K | 5.5% | 0.7% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,017 | Greenback TN | 1,251 | $73K | 9.9% | 4.1% | 2% | B− |
| 2,018 | Palermo ME | 1,636 | $89K | 4.8% | 2.3% | 3% | B− |
| 2,019 | Hope ME | 1,737 | $87K | 5.3% | 1.9% | 6% | B− |
| 2,020 | Lindley NY | 1,756 | $87K | 6.8% | 5.8% | 2% | B− |
| 2,021 | McKean Township OH | 1,661 | $100K | 19.9% | 9.0% | 2% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,760 | 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 Hope, the top three, the last and three more from Maine.
15% of Hope works in a town next door
The biggest share goes to Camden (10%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Hope workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hope | – | B− | B− | 20 min | $86,766 |
| Appleton | 5% | C− | D | 30 min | $53,618 |
| Lincolnville | under 3% | C | B | 20 min | $81,928 |
| Union | under 3% | C+ | B− | 29 min | $80,724 |
| Camden | 10% | C | A− | 22 min | $82,344 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Hope’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 Hope: questions
What is the median household income in Hope?
$86,766 (±$5,903) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,733 across Maine and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Hope?
5.3%, against 10.7% across Maine and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Hope?
20 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Maine and 26 nationally. 18% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Hope work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Rockland (12%, 9 mi), Rockport (11%, 7 mi), Camden (10%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Hope walkable?
Hope is more walkable than 45% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 5.7 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Hope without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Hope, from the people who make the trip.
More of Hope
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.