Gordon Fox Ranch · Photo: FoxTowerFarm · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in Lincoln trail those of 80% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 16.5% of residents, next to 10.7% for Maine as a whole. Lincoln grades D for jobs and income and A− for walkability. At home: 3% of workers have no commute at all (Maine 16%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Lincoln apart on work
The quickest commute around
Lincoln’s 24-minute average trip is shorter than in any town next door, where it runs from 35 to 39 minutes. Next door ↓
Lincoln’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Lincoln is Bangor, 40 miles away as the crow flies. 13% of working residents (245) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Few Lincoln workers work from home
Only 3% of workers work from home, against 16% across Maine. Almost everyone here travels to a job. 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.
The four measures behind Lincoln’s grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Lincoln is better than 9% of U.S. towns, #139 of 143 in Maine. Unemployment holds Lincoln’s grade up (6.1%, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 6% of U.S. towns).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Lincoln could be anywhere from D− to B−.
Miles to work from Lincoln
About 25% 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.
Lincoln’s commute takes about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lincoln workers work from home, vs 16% across Maine. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,183 commuters (the 3% 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.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 1,227 residents head out to work, 727 work right here, and 1,363 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.07 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
13% of working residents work in Bangor
Where Lincoln clocks in
13% of workers
4% of workers
3% 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.
Inside Lincoln’s 2,090 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lincoln, 2013 → 2023: 2,335 → 2,090. 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 Lincoln’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Lincoln is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Lincoln is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns, #22 of 143 in Maine. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 7.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 5.0% across Maine, on an EPA index of 7.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,255 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). 8.9% of Lincoln households have no vehicle (Maine 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Lincoln’s commuters take a bus or train.
Lincoln and other U.S. towns of 3,500 to 6,700
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 342 | North Yarmouth ME | 4,424 | $129K | 4.8% | 1.9% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 729 | Arundel ME | 4,596 | $102K | 5.9% | 3.0% | 9% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 758 | Hollis ME | 5,003 | $96K | 5.7% | 1.8% | 6% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,424 | Edna TX | 6,088 | $60K | 24.6% | 7.5% | 13% | D |
| 3,425 | Llano TX | 3,587 | $48K | 14.8% | 6.1% | 33% | D |
| 3,426 | Lincoln ME | 4,971 | $56K | 16.5% | 6.1% | 37% | D |
| 3,427 | Piney AR | 4,458 | $51K | 28.5% | 9.2% | 7% | D |
| 3,428 | Luray VA | 4,823 | $50K | 12.3% | 9.4% | 26% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,692 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Lincoln, the top three, the last and three more from Maine.
How Lincoln compares with the towns next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Lincoln workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lincoln | – | D | A− | 24 min | $56,089 |
| Lee | under 2% | — | — | 35 min | — |
| Winn | under 2% | — | — | 37 min | — |
| Burlington | under 2% | — | — | 39 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Lee, Winn and Burlington: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Lincoln’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 Lincoln: questions
What is the median household income in Lincoln?
$56,089 (±$14,898) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,733 across Maine and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lincoln?
16.5%, against 10.7% across Maine and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lincoln?
24 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Maine and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lincoln work?
37% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Bangor (13%, 40 mi), Brewer (4%, 42 mi), Old Town (3%, 31 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lincoln walkable?
Lincoln is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.2 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lincoln without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lincoln, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lincoln
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.