Photo: Public domain · Public domainMost of Lisbon commutes out: there are 0.4 jobs for every working resident
About one in ten work in Lisbon; the top destination outside it is Lewiston (16%, 7 miles). Employers in Lisbon report 1,827 jobs for 4,339 working residents. For jobs and income Lisbon is better than 80% of U.S. towns (A−); for walkability it is more walkable than 40% of U.S. towns (C+).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Lisbon, in brief
Income, poverty and work: Lisbon’s grade explained
Unemployment is its strongest input (1.8%, U.S. 5.2%); household income ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns ($77,819, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Lisbon could be anywhere from B to A.
The towns that employ Lisbon’s residents
Where Lisbon clocks in
16% of workers
8% of workers
8% 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 workday shuffle in and out of Lisbon
On a workday 3,907 residents head out to work, 432 work right here, and 1,395 people come in from elsewhere.
About 7,400 people are in Lisbon on a workday afternoon, 25% 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.
Making and building: 28% of jobs based in Lisbon
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lisbon, 2013 → 2023: 1,500 → 1,827. 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 Lisbon’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 29 minutes from Lisbon
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lisbon workers work from home, vs 16% across Maine. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,240 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Lisbon
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.
Few in Lisbon walk, bike or ride to work
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 5,178 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). 4.2% of Lisbon households have no vehicle (Maine 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Lisbon’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Lisbon is 803rd among 2,792 U.S. towns of 6,900 to 13,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 86 | Cumberland ME | 8,876 | $174K | 3.1% | 0.2% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 178 | Falmouth ME | 12,982 | $151K | 2.3% | 2.7% | 13% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 313 | Cape Elizabeth ME | 9,827 | $146K | 5.2% | 2.5% | 10% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 801 | Bogota NJ | 9,816 | $103K | 4.6% | 7.1% | 3% | A− |
| 802 | Oakland TN | 10,835 | $98K | 5.8% | 3.3% | 4% | A− |
| 803 | Lisbon ME | 9,919 | $78K | 5.3% | 1.8% | 10% | A− |
| 804 | Gilford NH | 7,898 | $117K | 6.2% | 1.3% | 15% | A− |
| 805 | Center Township PA | 11,998 | $89K | 3.7% | 4.4% | 10% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,792 | 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 Lisbon, the top three, the last and three more from Maine.
Bordering towns draw 20% of Lisbon’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Lisbon workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lisbon | – | A− | C+ | 29 min | $77,819 |
| Bowdoin | under 3% | B+ | D− | 32 min | $91,239 |
| Topsham | 4% | B+ | B− | 24 min | $91,028 |
| Durham | under 3% | B | D | 28 min | $99,181 |
| Lewiston | 16% | C | A | 21 min | $55,393 |
| Sabattus | under 3% | B | C− | 30 min | $59,387 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Lewiston. Darker towns draw more of Lisbon’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 Lisbon: questions
What is the median household income in Lisbon?
$77,819 (±$8,723) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,733 across Maine and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lisbon?
5.3%, against 10.7% across Maine and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lisbon?
29 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Maine and 26 nationally. 18% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lisbon work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lewiston (16%, 7 mi), Auburn (8%, 10 mi), Brunswick (8%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lisbon walkable?
Lisbon is more walkable than 40% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 6.4 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lisbon without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lisbon, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lisbon
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.