Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Households in Thomaston earn less than those in 79% of U.S. towns
6.6% of residents are in poverty; Maine has 10.7%. Jobs and income earn Thomaston C+; getting around on foot earns it C. 4% of workers have no commute at all, against 16% across Maine.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Thomaston in brief
Commutes from Thomaston are quick
The average trip to work takes 14 minutes, against 25 across Maine. That’s about 84 hours a year less on the road than the typical Maine worker. Time on the road ↓
Thomaston has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Thomaston went from 848 in 2013 to 1,471 in 2023, +73%. The jobs ↓
A lot of Thomaston works one town over
30% of working residents work in a town that borders Thomaston: Rockland (26%) and Warren (4%). Next door ↓
Few Thomaston workers work from home
Only 4% of workers work from home, against 16% across Maine. Almost everyone here travels to a job. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Thomaston
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Thomaston is better than 44% of U.S. towns, #92 of 143 in Maine. The poverty rate holds Thomaston’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($56,435, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Thomaston could be anywhere from C− to B+.
About 14 minutes to work from Thomaston
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Thomaston workers work from home, vs 16% across Maine. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,070 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.
Jobs in Thomaston: what the 1,471 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Thomaston, 2013 → 2023: 848 → 1,471. 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 Thomaston’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily flow of workers through Thomaston
On a workday 997 residents head out to work, 154 work right here, and 1,317 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,100 people are in Thomaston on a workday afternoon, 12% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.28 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.
26% of working residents work in Rockland
Where Thomaston clocks in
26% of workers
7% of workers
4% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Thomaston
About 18% 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.
For most of Thomaston, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Thomaston is more walkable than 31% of U.S. towns, #83 of 143 in Maine. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 5.0% across Maine.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,119 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). 2.2% of Thomaston households have no vehicle (Maine 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Thomaston’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Thomaston is 2,641st of 4,969 U.S. towns of 1,900 to 3,700
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 298 | Dayton ME | 2,182 | $114K | 3.7% | 0.2% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 761 | Newcastle ME | 1,915 | $90K | 3.5% | 0.0% | 10% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 765 | West Bath ME | 1,970 | $103K | 3.2% | 3.5% | 4% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,639 | Coleraine MN | 1,998 | $75K | 10.7% | 3.1% | 7% | C+ |
| 2,640 | Jacksboro TN | 2,235 | $69K | 12.7% | 3.8% | 10% | C+ |
| 2,641 | Thomaston ME | 2,751 | $56K | 6.6% | 3.3% | 13% | C+ |
| 2,642 | Negaunee Township MI | 3,292 | $98K | 6.7% | 6.8% | 3% | C+ |
| 2,643 | Callicoon NY | 3,059 | $93K | 9.6% | 4.2% | 14% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,969 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 12% | 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 Thomaston, the top three, the last and three more from Maine.
30% of Thomaston works in a bordering town
The biggest share goes to Rockland (26%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Thomaston workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thomaston | – | C+ | C | 14 min | $56,435 |
| Rockland | 26% | C− | A | 12 min | $56,533 |
| Warren | 4% | B+ | C+ | 23 min | $74,616 |
| South Thomaston | under 3% | B | C | 16 min | $86,838 |
| Cushing | under 3% | C+ | C− | 23 min | $83,500 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Thomaston’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 Thomaston: questions
What is the median household income in Thomaston?
$56,435 (±$12,937) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,733 across Maine and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Thomaston?
6.6%, against 10.7% across Maine and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Thomaston?
14 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Maine and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Thomaston work?
13% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Rockland (26%, 2 mi), Rockport (7%, 6 mi), Warren (4%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Thomaston walkable?
Thomaston is more walkable than 31% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 7.8 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Thomaston without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Thomaston, from the people who make the trip.
More of Thomaston
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.