Photo: Paul VanDerWerf from Brunswick, Maine, USA · CC BY 2.0Old Orchard Beach has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.3 for each
Old Orchard Beach grades C for jobs and income and A− for walkability. 1,231 jobs are based in Old Orchard Beach for 4,301 working residents. Only 8% work in Old Orchard Beach itself; outside it, Portland draws the most (22%, 11 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Old Orchard Beach in brief
Old Orchard Beach is a place people come home to
There are 1,231 jobs based in Old Orchard Beach, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Old Orchard Beach has about 6,500 people in it, 32% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Old Orchard Beach’s workforce skews older
36% of Old Orchard Beach’s working residents are 55 or older. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Old Orchard Beach
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Old Orchard Beach is better than 29% of U.S. towns, #115 of 143 in Maine. Job access by car holds Old Orchard Beach’s grade up (ahead of 69% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (6.8%, U.S. 5.2%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Old Orchard Beach could be anywhere from C− to B.
The workday shuffle in and out of Old Orchard Beach
On a workday 3,960 residents head out to work, 341 work right here, and 890 people come in from elsewhere.
About 6,500 people are in Old Orchard Beach on a workday afternoon, 32% 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 2024, primary jobs.
Most jobs in Old Orchard Beach are in services
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Old Orchard Beach, 2014 → 2024: 1,228 → 1,231. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Old Orchard Beach’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where people from Old Orchard Beach work
Where Old Orchard Beach clocks in
22% of workers
9% 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 Old Orchard Beach, about 22 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Old Orchard Beach workers work from home, vs 16% across Maine. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,295 commuters (the 15% 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.
How many miles Old Orchard Beach commutes
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
In Old Orchard Beach, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Old Orchard Beach is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns, #24 of 143 in Maine. Both inputs place Old Orchard Beach near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 5,053 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). 3.6% of Old Orchard Beach households have no vehicle (Maine 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Old Orchard Beach’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Old Orchard Beach is 2,174th of 2,790 U.S. towns of 6,700 to 12,900
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 90 | Cumberland ME | 8,876 | $174K | 3.1% | 0.2% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 314 | Cape Elizabeth ME | 9,827 | $146K | 5.2% | 2.5% | 10% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 370 | Buxton ME | 8,681 | $100K | 2.3% | 1.4% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,172 | North Valley NM | 10,455 | $61K | 17.6% | 8.5% | 6% | C |
| 2,173 | Levelland TX | 12,513 | $58K | 15.5% | 4.6% | 36% | C |
| 2,174 | Old Orchard Beach ME | 9,533 | $60K | 14.9% | 6.8% | 8% | C |
| 2,175 | Wetumpka AL | 7,535 | $58K | 9.9% | 8.9% | 16% | C |
| 2,176 | Busti NY | 7,369 | $67K | 14.4% | 5.4% | 15% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 2,790 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 6% | 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 Old Orchard Beach, the top three, the last and three more from Maine.
17% of Old Orchard Beach works in a town next door
The biggest share goes to Scarborough (10%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Old Orchard Beach workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Old Orchard Beach | – | C | A− | 22 min | $60,050 |
| Saco | 7% | A− | B+ | 24 min | $92,241 |
| Scarborough | 10% | A | B | 19 min | $133,558 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Old Orchard Beach’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 2024, 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 Old Orchard Beach: questions
What is the median household income in Old Orchard Beach?
$60,050 (±$10,836) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,733 across Maine and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Old Orchard Beach?
14.9%, against 10.7% across Maine and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Old Orchard Beach?
22 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Maine and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Old Orchard Beach work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Portland (22%, 11 mi), Scarborough (10%, 3 mi), South Portland (9%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Old Orchard Beach walkable?
Old Orchard Beach is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.0 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Old Orchard Beach without a car?
<1% 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 Old Orchard Beach, from the people who make the trip.
More of Old Orchard Beach
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.