Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Howland’s household incomes are lower than in 89% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 25.2% of residents, where Maine as a whole has 10.7%. Jobs and income earn Howland D−; getting around on foot earns it C. Home is the office for 0% of workers, where Maine as a whole has 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 Howland
Howland’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Howland is Bangor, 31 miles away as the crow flies. 21% of working residents (94) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Many jobs in Howland pay little
34% of the jobs based in Howland pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. The jobs ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Howland
52% of Howland residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 27% of the jobs based in Howland pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 87% leave town for their job. 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 439 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Why Howland gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty and job access, Howland is better than 3% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Howland’s grade.
Unemployment (10.0%) is left out: Howland’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, Howland could be anywhere from D− to C−.
Miles to work from Howland
About 26% 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.
Most jobs in Howland are in services
317 jobs are based in Howland.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Howland, 2013 → 2023: 268 → 317. 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 Howland’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The workday shuffle in and out of Howland
On a workday 382 residents head out to work, 57 work right here, and 260 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,000 people are in Howland on a workday afternoon, 10% fewer than live here.
0.72 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.
21% of working residents work in Bangor
Where Howland clocks in
21% of workers
6% 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.
Each way, about 31 minutes from Howland
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Howland workers work from home, vs 16% across Maine. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 365 commuters (the 0% 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.
In Howland, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Howland is more walkable than 27% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Howland near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 365 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). 6.5% of Howland households have no vehicle (Maine 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Howland’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Howland sits among U.S. towns of 800 to 1,600
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 689 | Edgecomb ME | 1,214 | $109K | 5.6% | 3.1% | 3% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,052 | Georgetown ME | 1,101 | $84K | 6.3% | 3.5% | 4% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,115 | South Thomaston ME | 1,520 | $87K | 4.2% | 0.0% | 4% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 4,052 | Stratford OK | 1,437 | $41K | 26.5% | 7.1% | 10% | D− |
| 4,053 | Troy PA | 1,227 | $51K | 29.7% | 1.7% | 15% | D− |
| 4,054 | Howland ME | 1,166 | $49K | 25.2% | 10.0% | 13% | D− |
| 4,055 | Grand Ronde OR | 1,549 | $53K | 24.8% | 4.0% | 25% | D− |
| 4,056 | Fosston MN | 1,383 | $53K | 25.6% | 10.0% | 27% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,312 | 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 Howland, the top three, the last and three more from Maine.
Around Howland: the bordering towns
The biggest share goes to Maxfield (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Howland workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Howland | – | D− | C | 31 min | $49,297 |
| Maxfield | 2% | — | — | 56 min | — |
| Edinburg | under 3% | — | — | 40 min | — |
| Lagrange | under 3% | — | — | 36 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Maxfield, Edinburg and Lagrange: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Howland’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 Howland: questions
What is the median household income in Howland?
$49,297 (±$20,532) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,733 across Maine and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Howland?
25.2%, against 10.7% across Maine and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Howland?
31 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Maine and 26 nationally. 0% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Howland work?
13% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Bangor (21%, 30 mi), Enfield (7%, 7 mi), Old Town (6%, 22 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Howland walkable?
Howland is more walkable than 27% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 6.3 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Howland without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Howland, from the people who make the trip.
More of Howland
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.