Ropes End · Photo: Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 4.0Phippsburg has lower unemployment (1.5%) than 90% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Phippsburg B+; getting around on foot earns it C+. Household incomes here are higher than in 82% of U.S. towns. Only 2% work in Phippsburg; the top destination outside it is Bath (25%, 13 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Phippsburg in brief
Phippsburg is a place people come home to
There are 155 jobs based in Phippsburg, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Phippsburg has about 1,500 people in it, 32% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
A lot of Phippsburg works one town over
31% of working residents work in a town that borders Phippsburg: Bath (25%) and West Bath (6%). Next door ↓
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; with 872 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Jobs & income in Phippsburg: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Phippsburg is better than 70% of U.S. towns. Unemployment holds Phippsburg’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 18% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Phippsburg could be anywhere from B− to A−.
In and out of Phippsburg on a workday
On a workday 856 residents head out to work, 16 work right here, and 139 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,500 people are in Phippsburg on a workday afternoon, 32% fewer than live here.
0.18 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Where Phippsburg goes to work
Where Phippsburg clocks in
25% of workers
14% 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.
What Phippsburg’s employers do
155 jobs are based in Phippsburg.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Phippsburg, 2013 → 2023: 101 → 155. 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 Phippsburg’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 21 minutes each way, quicker than most of Maine
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Phippsburg workers work from home, vs 16% across Maine. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 942 commuters (the 12% 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.
Miles to work from Phippsburg
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.
Most of Phippsburg commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Phippsburg is more walkable than 43% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 3.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 5.0% across Maine, on an EPA index of 5.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,067 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). 4.7% of Phippsburg households have no vehicle (Maine 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 4% of Phippsburg’s commuters take a bus or train.
Phippsburg next to U.S. towns of 1,600 to 3,000: 1,144th of 5,102 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 276 | Dayton ME | 2,182 | $114K | 3.7% | 0.2% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 570 | Ogunquit ME | 1,606 | $114K | 3.2% | 0.0% | 22% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 624 | Pownal ME | 1,645 | $104K | 5.5% | 0.7% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,142 | Erie Township IL | 1,842 | $82K | 3.1% | 5.7% | 12% | B+ |
| 1,143 | Rock Creek Township KS | 2,773 | $93K | 3.3% | 4.7% | 7% | B+ |
| 1,144 | Phippsburg ME | 2,232 | $108K | 7.5% | 1.5% | 2% | B+ |
| 1,145 | Whitewater Township MI | 2,736 | $94K | 3.2% | 3.4% | 2% | B+ |
| 1,146 | Wellsville KS | 2,002 | $84K | 8.0% | 1.6% | 9% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,102 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Phippsburg, the top three, the last and three more from Maine.
The towns next door employ 31% of Phippsburg
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Phippsburg workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phippsburg | – | B+ | C+ | 21 min | $107,833 |
| Arrowsic | under 3% | — | — | 29 min | — |
| West Bath | 6% | A− | C− | 21 min | $103,333 |
| Georgetown | under 3% | B | B | 30 min | $84,250 |
| Bath | 25% | C+ | A | 24 min | $69,390 |
| Harpswell | under 3% | A− | C− | 30 min | $96,250 |
Same-state neighbors only. Arrowsic: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Bath. Darker towns draw more of Phippsburg’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 Phippsburg: questions
What is the median household income in Phippsburg?
$107,833 (±$18,782) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,733 across Maine and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Phippsburg?
7.5%, against 10.7% across Maine and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Phippsburg?
21 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Maine and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Phippsburg work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Bath (25%, 13 mi), Brunswick (14%, 13 mi), Portland (10%, 19 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Phippsburg walkable?
Phippsburg is more walkable than 43% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 5.2 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Phippsburg without a car?
4% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Phippsburg, from the people who make the trip.
More of Phippsburg
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.