Photo: The original uploader was Rangeley at English Wikipedia. · CC BY-SA 3.0There are 2.0 jobs in Rangeley for every working resident, and 575 people commute in
4% of workers work from home, next to 16% for Maine as a whole. 806 jobs are based in Rangeley, and 396 of its residents work somewhere. Rangeley grades C+ for jobs and income and B+ for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Rangeley and work: the main findings
Short distances, slow trips
Half of Rangeley’s working residents have a job less than 6 miles away, yet the average commute still takes 41 minutes, longer than the Maine average of 25. Time on the road ↓
Rangeley is where the jobs are
Rangeley has 806 jobs, 2.0 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
A big share show a job far from home
30% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
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 396 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where Rangeley’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty and job access, Rangeley is better than 37% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Rangeley’s grade up (1.8%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 2% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (19.4%) is left out: Rangeley’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, Rangeley could be anywhere from C− to B−.
The daily trip from Rangeley: about 41 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 13 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Rangeley workers work from home, vs 16% across Maine. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 398 commuters (the 4% 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.
The daily commute in and out of Rangeley
On a workday 165 residents head out to work and 231 work right here.
About 1,700 people are in Rangeley on a workday afternoon, 31% more than live here.
2.0 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
How far Rangeley goes to work
About 30% 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.
Who travels to work in Rangeley, and from where
Where Rangeley clocks in
4% of workers
2% of workers
2% 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 Rangeley’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Rangeley, 2013 → 2023: 584 → 806. 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 Rangeley’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Most trips from Rangeley start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Rangeley is more walkable than 74% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Rangeley 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 415 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). 7.0% of Rangeley households have no vehicle (Maine 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Rangeley’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Rangeley ranks: 2,628th of 5,400 U.S. towns of 900 to 1,800
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 428 | Ogunquit ME | 1,606 | $114K | 3.2% | 0.0% | 22% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 460 | Pownal ME | 1,645 | $104K | 5.5% | 0.7% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 894 | Edgecomb ME | 1,214 | $109K | 5.6% | 3.1% | 3% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,626 | Mont Alto PA | 1,563 | $81K | 10.0% | 7.7% | 2% | C+ |
| 2,627 | Ore City TX | 1,210 | $73K | 13.5% | 4.9% | 3% | C+ |
| 2,628 | Rangeley ME | 1,336 | $58K | 1.8% | 19.4% | 58% | C+ |
| 2,629 | Peru Township OH | 1,043 | $126K | 31.7% | 2.6% | 1% | C+ |
| 2,630 | Mallory WV | 1,417 | $102K | 11.6% | 2.8% | 3% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,400 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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 Rangeley, the top three, the last and three more from Maine.
How Rangeley compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Dallas plantation (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Rangeley workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rangeley | – | C+ | B+ | 41 min | $58,243 |
| Dallas plantation | 2% | — | — | 7 min | — |
| Rangeley plantation | 2% | — | — | — | — |
| Sandy River plantation | under 2% | — | — | 12 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Dallas plantation, Rangeley plantation and Sandy River plantation: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Rangeley’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 Rangeley: questions
What is the median household income in Rangeley?
$58,243 (±$22,533) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,733 across Maine and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Rangeley?
1.8%, against 10.7% across Maine and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Rangeley?
41 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Maine and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Rangeley work?
58% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Portland (4%, 96 mi), Dallas plantation (2%, 7 mi), Bangor (2%, 95 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Rangeley walkable?
Rangeley is more walkable than 74% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.3 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Rangeley without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Rangeley, from the people who make the trip.
More of Rangeley
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.