Photo: John Phelan · CC BY-SA 4.0Pownal has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.4 for each
Jobs and income earn Pownal A−; getting around on foot earns it D. Employers in Pownal report 286 jobs; 795 of its residents have a job. Measured by household income, Pownal is ahead of 80% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Pownal, in brief
Home offices are common in Pownal
24% of Pownal workers work from home, against 16% across Maine. Time on the road ↓
Pownal workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 30 minutes each way, against 25 across Maine. Over a year that’s about 230 hours of commuting, 38 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
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 795 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where Pownal’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty and job access, Pownal is better than 82% of U.S. towns. Household income is its strongest input ($104,333, U.S. $80,734); job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 58% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
Unemployment (0.7%) is left out: Pownal’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Pownal could be anywhere from B+ to A.
Getting to work from Pownal takes about 30 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Pownal workers work from home, vs 16% across Maine. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 621 commuters (the 24% 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.
Who works in Pownal, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 786 residents head out to work, 9 work right here, and 277 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,100 people are in Pownal on a workday afternoon, 31% 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.
18% of working residents work in Portland
Where Pownal clocks in
18% of workers
7% 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.
Jobs in Pownal: what the 286 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Pownal, 2013 → 2023: 106 → 286. 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 Pownal’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where in the region Pownal works
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.
Driving is how Pownal gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Pownal is more walkable than 9% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Pownal 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 816 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 1.0% of Pownal households have no vehicle (Maine 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Pownal’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Pownal ranks: 544th of 5,381 U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,200
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 245 | Dayton ME | 2,182 | $114K | 3.7% | 0.2% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 499 | Ogunquit ME | 1,606 | $114K | 3.2% | 0.0% | 22% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 542 | Angelica WI | 1,880 | $96K | 4.3% | 2.7% | 1% | A− |
| 543 | Diablo CA | 1,232 | $248K | 13.2% | 5.0% | <1% | A− |
| 544 | Pownal ME | 1,645 | $104K | 5.5% | 0.7% | 1% | A− |
| 545 | Doe Valley KY | 1,776 | $109K | 1.8% | 5.8% | 2% | A− |
| 546 | Westlake Corner VA | 2,033 | $95K | 5.8% | 0.0% | 12% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 592 | Newcastle ME | 1,915 | $90K | 3.5% | 0.0% | 10% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,381 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | 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 Pownal, the top three, the last and three more from Maine.
Next door is work for 14% of Pownal
The biggest share goes to Freeport (7%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Pownal workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pownal | – | A− | D | 30 min | $104,333 |
| North Yarmouth | under 4% | A | C+ | 27 min | $129,267 |
| Freeport | 7% | B+ | A− | 24 min | $107,326 |
| Durham | under 4% | B | D | 28 min | $99,181 |
| New Gloucester | 7% | B+ | B | 27 min | $108,797 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Pownal’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 Pownal: questions
What is the median household income in Pownal?
$104,333 (±$13,845) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,733 across Maine and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Pownal?
5.5%, against 10.7% across Maine and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Pownal?
30 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Maine and 26 nationally. 24% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Pownal work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Portland (18%, 19 mi), New Gloucester (7%, 7 mi), Lewiston (7%, 13 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Pownal walkable?
Pownal is more walkable than 9% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 4.7 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Pownal without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Pownal, from the people who make the trip.
More of Pownal
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.