Samuel Penney House · Photo: Jehosafatarmbender · CC BY-SA 3.0With 0.4 jobs for every working resident, most of Mechanic Falls works elsewhere
8% of workers work from home (Maine 16%). Mechanic Falls has 651 jobs; 1,482 of its residents have a job. For jobs and income Mechanic Falls is better than 53% of U.S. towns (B−); for walkability it is more walkable than 72% of U.S. towns (B+).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Mechanic Falls apart on work
What’s behind Mechanic Falls’ Jobs & income grade
Unemployment holds Mechanic Falls’ grade up (3.0%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($69,914, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on the poverty rate.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Mechanic Falls could be anywhere from C− to A−.
41% of the jobs in Mechanic Falls make or build things
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Mechanic Falls, 2013 → 2023: 600 → 651. 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 Mechanic Falls’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who leaves Mechanic Falls for work, and who comes in
On a workday 1,391 residents head out to work, 91 work right here, and 560 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,500 people are in Mechanic Falls 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.
21% of working residents work in Auburn
Where Mechanic Falls clocks in
21% of workers
18% 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 26 minutes from Mechanic Falls
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Mechanic Falls workers work from home, vs 16% across Maine. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,293 commuters (the 8% 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.
Mechanic Falls’ commute, mile by mile
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.
Getting around Mechanic Falls: mostly by car
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 6.8.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,404 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). 1.1% of Mechanic Falls households have no vehicle (Maine 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Mechanic Falls’ commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Mechanic Falls is 2,060th among 4,453 U.S. towns of 2,300 to 4,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 764 | Limington ME | 4,173 | $85K | 3.4% | 0.4% | 5% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 915 | Orrington ME | 3,912 | $95K | 6.6% | 1.7% | 4% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 987 | Kennebunkport ME | 3,717 | $103K | 4.6% | 3.7% | 14% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,058 | Southern Shores NC | 3,110 | $131K | 0.6% | 13.2% | 6% | B− |
| 2,059 | Wethersfield Township IL | 3,695 | $62K | 6.3% | 2.3% | 14% | B− |
| 2,060 | Mechanic Falls ME | 3,286 | $70K | 9.2% | 3.0% | 6% | B− |
| 2,061 | Martin Township MI | 2,721 | $72K | 7.4% | 5.8% | 8% | B− |
| 2,062 | Pine Level NC | 2,405 | $75K | 8.0% | 3.8% | 4% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,453 | 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 Mechanic Falls, the top three, the last and three more from Maine.
Mechanic Falls and the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Poland (4%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Mechanic Falls workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mechanic Falls | – | B− | B+ | 26 min | $69,914 |
| Poland | 4% | B | D | 28 min | $85,557 |
| Minot | 3% | A− | C− | 25 min | $95,655 |
| Oxford | 2% | D | B+ | 26 min | $58,571 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Mechanic Falls’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 Mechanic Falls: questions
What is the median household income in Mechanic Falls?
$69,914 (±$12,114) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,733 across Maine and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Mechanic Falls?
9.2%, against 10.7% across Maine and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Mechanic Falls?
26 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Maine and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Mechanic Falls work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Auburn (21%, 8 mi), Lewiston (18%, 12 mi), Portland (6%, 34 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Mechanic Falls walkable?
Mechanic Falls is more walkable than 72% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 6.8 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Mechanic Falls 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 Mechanic Falls, from the people who make the trip.
More of Mechanic Falls
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.