Photo: Billy Hathorn · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Trenton trail those of 73% of U.S. towns
Only 6% work in Trenton itself; outside it, Bar Harbor draws the most (23%, 8 miles). The poverty rate is 18.2%; Maine has 10.7%. Jobs and income earn Trenton D; getting around on foot earns it C.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Trenton at work: what stands out
Much of Trenton works one town over
48% of working residents work in a town that borders Trenton: Bar Harbor (23%), Ellsworth (23%) and Mount Desert (2%). Next door ↓
Trenton makes and builds things
51% of the jobs based in Trenton are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Trenton residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 13%. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 666 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Jobs & income in Trenton: the grade in detail
On income, poverty and job access, Trenton is better than 10% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Trenton’s grade.
Unemployment (4.6%) is left out: Trenton’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, Trenton could be anywhere from D− to C.
A place that makes things: 51% of Trenton’s jobs are in goods
723 jobs are based in Trenton.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Trenton, 2014 → 2024: 807 → 723. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Trenton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The workday shuffle in and out of Trenton
On a workday 627 residents head out to work, 39 work right here, and 684 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 (1.09 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
The places Trenton commutes to
Where Trenton clocks in
23% of workers
23% of workers
6% 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.
The trip to work from Trenton: about 29 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Trenton workers work from home, vs 16% across Maine. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 661 commuters (the 11% 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 Trenton
About 16% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
In Trenton, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Trenton is more walkable than 27% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Trenton 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 745 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). 5.1% of Trenton households have no vehicle (Maine 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Trenton’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Trenton ranks: 4,519th 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% | 1% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 245 | Dayton ME | 2,182 | $114K | 3.7% | 0.2% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 499 | Ogunquit ME | 1,606 | $114K | 3.2% | 0.0% | 24% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 544 | Pownal ME | 1,645 | $104K | 5.5% | 0.7% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,517 | Woodbine NJ | 2,104 | $46K | 30.3% | 7.3% | 9% | D |
| 4,518 | Rural Retreat VA | 1,521 | $62K | 22.3% | 2.0% | 5% | D |
| 4,519 | Trenton ME | 1,656 | $60K | 18.2% | 4.6% | 6% | D |
| 4,520 | Perryman MD | 2,174 | $35K | 35.1% | 12.8% | 2% | D |
| 4,521 | Stanaford WV | 1,449 | $44K | 44.5% | 3.1% | 2% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,381 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 7% | 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 Trenton, the top three, the last and three more from Maine.
Bordering towns draw 48% of Trenton’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Trenton workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trenton | – | D | C | 29 min | $60,455 |
| Bar Harbor | 23% | C+ | A− | 20 min | $77,180 |
| Lamoine | under 2% | C | D | 22 min | $88,542 |
| Surry | under 2% | C+ | D | 31 min | $74,508 |
| Ellsworth | 23% | B− | A− | 25 min | $77,375 |
| Mount Desert | 2% | B− | A− | 18 min | $92,813 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Bar Harbor. Darker towns draw more of Trenton’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 2024, 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 Trenton: questions
What is the median household income in Trenton?
$60,455 (±$12,546) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,733 across Maine and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Trenton?
18.2%, against 10.7% across Maine and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Trenton?
29 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Maine and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Trenton work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Bar Harbor (23%, 8 mi), Ellsworth (23%, 9 mi), Hancock (6%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Trenton walkable?
Trenton is more walkable than 27% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 6.3 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Trenton without a car?
0% 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 Trenton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Trenton
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.