Jefferson Cattle Pound · Photo: User:Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 4.0With 0.3 jobs for every working resident, most of Jefferson works elsewhere
Employers in Jefferson report 333 jobs, and 1,039 of its residents work somewhere. For jobs and income Jefferson is better than 50% of U.S. towns (B−); for walkability it is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns (C+). Only 4% stay in Jefferson for work; outside it, Augusta is the main destination (19%, 16 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jefferson and work: the main findings
Jefferson makes and builds things
46% of the jobs based in Jefferson are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Jefferson residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 21%. The jobs ↓
Jefferson workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 30 minutes each way, against 25 across Maine. Over a year that’s about 230 hours of commuting, 38 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.
Jobs & income in Jefferson: the grade in detail
The poverty rate holds Jefferson’s grade up (3.4%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down. It also does well on household income.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Jefferson could be anywhere from C to A−.
Factories, building and farms: 46% of the jobs in Jefferson
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Jefferson, 2013 → 2023: 253 → 333. 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 Jefferson’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Jefferson: about 30 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Jefferson workers work from home, vs 16% across Maine. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,142 commuters (the 9% 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.
Jefferson by day and by night
On a workday 996 residents head out to work, 43 work right here, and 290 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,000 people are in Jefferson on a workday afternoon, 26% 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 places Jefferson commutes to
Where Jefferson clocks in
19% 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.
The distance from Jefferson to work
About 18% 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.
Driving is how Jefferson gets around
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 5.0% across Maine, on an EPA index of 4.9.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,254 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). 1.2% of Jefferson households have no vehicle (Maine 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Jefferson’s commuters take a bus or train.
2,323rd of 4,969: where Jefferson ranks among U.S. towns of 1,900 to 3,700
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 298 | Dayton ME | 2,182 | $114K | 3.7% | 0.2% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 761 | Newcastle ME | 1,915 | $90K | 3.5% | 0.0% | 10% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 765 | West Bath ME | 1,970 | $103K | 3.2% | 3.5% | 4% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,321 | North Shore VA | 3,638 | $110K | 10.3% | 4.6% | 3% | B− |
| 2,322 | Hopkins Township IL | 1,966 | $97K | 6.8% | 6.4% | 5% | B− |
| 2,323 | Jefferson ME | 2,728 | $85K | 3.4% | 5.9% | 4% | B− |
| 2,324 | Van Buren Township OH | 2,796 | $73K | 12.2% | 2.3% | 16% | B− |
| 2,325 | Ridgefield Township OH | 2,171 | $70K | 4.6% | 5.9% | 10% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,969 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 12% | 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 Jefferson, the top three, the last and three more from Maine.
Jefferson and its neighbors
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Jefferson workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jefferson | – | B− | C+ | 30 min | $85,078 |
| Nobleboro | under 3% | B− | C+ | 20 min | $100,417 |
| Windsor | under 3% | C+ | C− | 36 min | $63,178 |
| Somerville | under 3% | — | — | 27 min | — |
| Whitefield | 4% | B | C− | 30 min | $73,875 |
| Alna | under 3% | — | — | 35 min | — |
| Waldoboro | under 3% | B− | C− | 25 min | $69,107 |
| Newcastle | under 3% | A− | B+ | 17 min | $89,868 |
| Washington | under 3% | D | C− | 32 min | $59,861 |
Same-state neighbors only. Somerville and Alna: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Whitefield. Darker towns draw more of Jefferson’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 Jefferson: questions
What is the median household income in Jefferson?
$85,078 (±$17,246) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,733 across Maine and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Jefferson?
3.4%, against 10.7% across Maine and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Jefferson?
30 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Maine and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Jefferson work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Augusta (19%, 16 mi), Bath (6%, 23 mi), Damariscotta (5%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Jefferson walkable?
Jefferson is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 4.9 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Jefferson without a car?
2% 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 Jefferson, from the people who make the trip.
More of Jefferson
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.