Photo: Unknown photographer · Public domainMillinocket’s household incomes are lower than in 87% of U.S. towns
The two grades for Millinocket are D for jobs and income and C for walkability. Poverty touches 17.1% of residents, next to 10.7% for Maine as a whole. Home is the office for 7% 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
Getting to work from Millinocket, in brief
Millinocket’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Millinocket is Bangor, 57 miles away as the crow flies. 9% of working residents (115) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Most jobs in Millinocket go to people who live here
Of the 1,204 jobs based in Millinocket, 48% are held by Millinocket residents. In most towns, people from elsewhere hold most of the local jobs. Day and night ↓
A big share show a job far from home
44% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Fewer than half of Millinocket workers earn over $40,000 a year
42% of Millinocket’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 19% earn $1,250 a month or less. 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.
Where Millinocket’s Jobs & income grade comes from
Unemployment holds Millinocket’s grade up (6.1%, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 3% of U.S. towns).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Millinocket could be anywhere from D− to B−.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Millinocket
About 44% 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.
Who commutes out of Millinocket, and who commutes in
On a workday 767 residents head out to work, 575 work right here, and 629 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 (0.90 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.
Jobs in Millinocket: what the 1,204 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Millinocket, 2013 → 2023: 1,298 → 1,204. 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 Millinocket’s own residents hold wherever they work.
9% of working residents work in Bangor
Where Millinocket clocks in
9% 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.
From Millinocket, about 24 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Millinocket workers work from home, vs 16% across Maine. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,254 commuters (the 7% 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.
Driving is how Millinocket gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Millinocket is more walkable than 30% of U.S. towns, #87 of 143 in Maine. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 5.0% across Maine.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,342 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). 9.6% of Millinocket households have no vehicle (Maine 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Millinocket’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Millinocket compares with U.S. towns of 2,900 to 5,500
| # | 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 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 336 | North Yarmouth ME | 4,424 | $129K | 4.8% | 1.9% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 731 | Arundel ME | 4,596 | $102K | 5.9% | 3.0% | 9% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 766 | Hollis ME | 5,003 | $96K | 5.7% | 1.8% | 6% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,780 | Montura FL | 4,121 | $35K | 38.3% | 3.8% | 4% | D |
| 3,781 | Wayne Township IN | 4,358 | $46K | 27.6% | 6.6% | 16% | D |
| 3,782 | Millinocket ME | 4,095 | $51K | 17.1% | 6.1% | 43% | D |
| 3,783 | Pearl River MS | 4,047 | $51K | 24.6% | 7.4% | 65% | D |
| 3,784 | Deer Park WA | 5,370 | $54K | 19.4% | 14.1% | 17% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,023 | 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 Millinocket, the top three, the last and three more from Maine.
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 Millinocket: questions
What is the median household income in Millinocket?
$51,007 (±$8,588) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,733 across Maine and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Millinocket?
17.1%, against 10.7% across Maine and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Millinocket?
24 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Maine and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Millinocket work?
43% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Bangor (9%, 57 mi), Lincoln (4%, 23 mi), East Millinocket (3%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Millinocket walkable?
Millinocket is more walkable than 30% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 7.7 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Millinocket without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Millinocket, from the people who make the trip.
More of Millinocket
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.