Photo: Alice Sheppard · Public domainMount Chase has 0.5 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Below the poverty line: 30.7% of residents, next to 10.7% for Maine as a whole. Employers in Mount Chase report 30 jobs, against 63 working residents. Working residents average 27 minutes each way, next to 25 for Maine and 26 for the U.S.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Who leaves Mount Chase for work, and who comes in
On a workday 62 residents head out to work, 1 work right here, and 29 people come in from elsewhere.
About 160 people are in Mount Chase on a workday afternoon, 17% 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.
22% of working residents work in Patten
Where Mount Chase clocks in
22% of workers
16% of workers
10% 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.
Services make up most of the work in Mount Chase
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Mount Chase, 2013 → 2023: 30 → 30. 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 Mount Chase’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Mount Chase takes about 27 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Mount Chase workers work from home, vs 16% across Maine. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 70 commuters (the 22% 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.
Where in the region Mount Chase works
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.
Mount Chase and its neighbors: 22% work next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Mount Chase workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount Chase | – | — | — | 27 min | $41,711 |
| Hersey | under 2% | — | — | 25 min | — |
| Patten | 22% | — | — | 28 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Hersey: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Patten: not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Patten. Darker towns draw more of Mount Chase’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 Mount Chase: questions
What is the median household income in Mount Chase?
$41,711 (±$7,399) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,733 across Maine and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Mount Chase?
30.7%, against 10.7% across Maine and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Mount Chase?
27 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Maine and 26 nationally. 22% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Mount Chase work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Patten (22%, 7 mi), Houlton (16%, 31 mi), Bangor (10%, 89 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Mount Chase without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Mount Chase, from the people who make the trip.
More of Mount Chase
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.