Center Meeting House and Common · Photo: Tim Pierce · CC BY-SA 3.0Oxford has higher unemployment (10.6%) than 95% of U.S. towns
Measured by household income, Oxford is behind 76% of U.S. towns. Jobs and income earn Oxford D; getting around on foot earns it B+. 9% of workers have no commute at all; Maine has 16%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Oxford
Inside Oxford’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Oxford is better than 14% of U.S. towns, #134 of 143 in Maine. The poverty rate holds Oxford’s grade up (12.5%, U.S. 12.5%); unemployment pulls it down.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Oxford could be anywhere from D− to B+.
How a workday changes Oxford
On a workday 1,819 residents head out to work, 243 work right here, and 1,667 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 (0.93 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.
11% of working residents work in Auburn
Where Oxford clocks in
11% of workers
8% of workers
7% 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.
What Oxford’s employers do
1,910 jobs are based in Oxford.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Oxford, 2013 → 2023: 2,356 → 1,910. 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 Oxford’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 26 minutes in Oxford
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Oxford workers work from home, vs 16% across Maine. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,811 commuters (the 9% 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.
Half of Oxford commutes less than 16 miles
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 Oxford walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Oxford is more walkable than 74% of U.S. towns, #27 of 143 in Maine. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 9.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 5.0% across Maine, on an EPA index of 6.7.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,981 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). 11.5% of Oxford households have no vehicle (Maine 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Oxford’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Oxford ranks: 3,524th of 4,000 U.S. towns of 3,100 to 6,000
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 350 | North Yarmouth ME | 4,424 | $129K | 4.8% | 1.9% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 746 | Arundel ME | 4,596 | $102K | 5.9% | 3.0% | 9% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 778 | Hollis ME | 5,003 | $96K | 5.7% | 1.8% | 6% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,522 | Holloman AFB NM | 4,433 | $52K | 10.2% | 11.9% | 4% | D |
| 3,523 | Pittsfield IL | 4,041 | $55K | 17.9% | 4.9% | 32% | D |
| 3,524 | Oxford ME | 4,449 | $59K | 12.5% | 10.6% | 12% | D |
| 3,525 | Union Township MO | 3,242 | $51K | 20.0% | 4.1% | 14% | D |
| 3,526 | Warsaw NY | 5,218 | $57K | 20.0% | 5.5% | 30% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,000 | 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 Oxford, the top three, the last and three more from Maine.
Work next door: 11% of Oxford’s workers
The biggest share goes to Paris (6%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Oxford workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oxford | – | D | B+ | 26 min | $58,571 |
| Hebron | under 3% | B− | B | 31 min | $92,550 |
| Otisfield | under 3% | C+ | C− | 33 min | $84,271 |
| Paris | 6% | B− | B− | 22 min | $75,137 |
| Mechanic Falls | under 3% | B− | B+ | 26 min | $69,914 |
| Norway | 5% | C− | C | 34 min | $54,342 |
| Poland | under 3% | B | D | 28 min | $85,557 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Oxford’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 Oxford: questions
What is the median household income in Oxford?
$58,571 (±$24,202) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,733 across Maine and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Oxford?
12.5%, against 10.7% across Maine and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Oxford?
26 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Maine and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Oxford work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Auburn (11%, 12 mi), Lewiston (8%, 15 mi), Portland (7%, 38 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Oxford walkable?
Oxford is more walkable than 74% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 6.7 out of 20, and 9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Oxford without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Oxford, from the people who make the trip.
More of Oxford
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.