Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Household incomes in Van Buren are lower than in 96% of U.S. towns
23.0% of residents live below the poverty line, against 10.7% across Maine. Jobs and income earn Van Buren D−; getting around on foot earns it B. Working from home is the commute for 8% of workers, next to 16% for Maine as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Van Buren, in a few figures
Most jobs in Van Buren go to people who live here
Of the 425 jobs based in Van Buren, 49% are held by Van Buren residents. In most towns, people from elsewhere hold most of the local jobs. Day and night ↓
Van Buren’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Van Buren is Caribou, 24 miles away as the crow flies. 12% of working residents (75) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Commutes from Van Buren are quick
The average trip to work takes 15 minutes, against 25 across Maine. That’s about 77 hours a year less on the road than the typical Maine 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 635 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Van Buren’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Van Buren is near the bottom of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Van Buren’s grade.
Unemployment (0.3%) is left out: Van Buren’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Van Buren stays D−.
A workday in Van Buren: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 427 residents head out to work, 208 work right here, and 217 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,800 people are in Van Buren on a workday afternoon, 11% fewer than live here.
0.67 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.
The distance from Van Buren to work
About 21% 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.
About 15 minutes each way, quicker than most of Maine
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Van Buren workers work from home, vs 16% across Maine. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 555 commuters (the 8% 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.
12% of working residents work in Caribou
Where Van Buren clocks in
12% 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.
The 425 jobs based in Van Buren
425 jobs are based in Van Buren.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Van Buren, 2013 → 2023: 498 → 425. 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 Van Buren’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In Van Buren, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Van Buren is more walkable than 61% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 6.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 5.0% across Maine, on an EPA index of 5.9.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 605 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). 13.3% of Van Buren households have no vehicle (Maine 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Van Buren’s commuters take a bus or train.
Van Buren next to U.S. towns of 1,400 to 2,700
| # | 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 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 280 | Dayton ME | 2,182 | $114K | 3.7% | 0.2% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 579 | Ogunquit ME | 1,606 | $114K | 3.2% | 0.0% | 22% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 631 | Pownal ME | 1,645 | $104K | 5.5% | 0.7% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,419 | Brinkley AR | 2,468 | $39K | 25.7% | 16.7% | 24% | D− |
| 5,420 | Glenwood AR | 2,016 | $34K | 38.8% | 1.0% | 28% | D− |
| 5,421 | Van Buren ME | 1,985 | $40K | 23.0% | 0.3% | 33% | D− |
| 5,422 | Hillman Township MI | 2,151 | $43K | 24.4% | 3.7% | 19% | D− |
| 5,423 | Russell WI | 1,644 | $48K | 31.0% | 11.4% | 22% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,509 | 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 Van Buren, the top three, the last and three more from Maine.
Around Van Buren: the bordering towns
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Van Buren workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Van Buren | – | D− | B | 15 min | $40,170 |
| Grand Isle | under 2% | — | — | 23 min | — |
| Hamlin | under 2% | — | — | 15 min | — |
| Cyr plantation | under 2% | — | — | 10 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Grand Isle, Hamlin and Cyr plantation: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Van Buren’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 Van Buren: questions
What is the median household income in Van Buren?
$40,170 (±$4,227) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,733 across Maine and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Van Buren?
23.0%, against 10.7% across Maine and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Van Buren?
15 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Maine and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Van Buren work?
33% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Caribou (12%, 24 mi), Madawaska (11%, 14 mi), Presque Isle (10%, 34 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Van Buren walkable?
Van Buren is more walkable than 61% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 5.9 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Van Buren without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 13% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Van Buren, from the people who make the trip.
More of Van Buren
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.