Photo: John Phelan · CC BY-SA 4.0Wales has 0.3 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Jobs & income C−: better than 25% of U.S. towns on income, poverty and job access.
Walkability D: more walkable than 8% of U.S. towns.
Household incomes here are higher than in 52% of U.S. towns. Working residents average 28 minutes each way (Maine 25, U.S. 26). Only 2% work in Wales; the top destination outside it is Lewiston (22%, 7 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The short version on getting to work from Wales
What’s behind Wales’ Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Wales is better than 25% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Wales’ grade up ($77,004, U.S. $80,734); the poverty rate pulls it down (25.3%, U.S. 12.5%).
Unemployment (4.7%) is left out: Wales’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, Wales could be anywhere from C− to C+.
Wales quiets down on a workday
On a workday 755 residents head out to work, 15 work right here, and 191 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,100 people are in Wales on a workday afternoon, 34% fewer than live here.
0.27 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.
22% of working residents work in Lewiston
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Wales clocks in
22% of workers
12% of workers
7% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
Wales makes things: 33% of its jobs are in goods
206 jobs are based in Wales. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Wales’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Wales, 2013 → 2023: 244 → 206. 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.
About 28 minutes each way, longer than most of Maine
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Wales workers work from home, vs 16% across Maine. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 617 commuters (the 22% who work from home are left out). Across Maine: 84% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
Half of Wales commutes less than 15 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Most trips from Wales start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Wales is more walkable than 8% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.0% of 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 793 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). 1.8% of Wales households have no vehicle (Maine 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Wales’ commuters take a bus or train.
Wales is 3,758th of 5,760 U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,300 on jobs and income
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Wales, the top three, the last and three more from Maine.
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 263 | Dayton ME | 2,182 | $114K | 3.7% | 0.2% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 543 | Ogunquit ME | 1,606 | $114K | 3.2% | 0.0% | 22% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 591 | Pownal ME | 1,645 | $104K | 5.5% | 0.7% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,756 | Moravia NY | 1,233 | $63K | 10.6% | 4.4% | 16% | C− |
| 3,757 | Whitewright TX | 1,749 | $58K | 16.8% | 4.7% | 4% | C− |
| 3,758 | Wales ME | 1,673 | $77K | 25.3% | 4.7% | 2% | C− |
| 3,759 | Haines Township PA | 1,595 | $77K | 15.0% | 3.4% | 4% | C− |
| 3,760 | South Shenango Township PA | 1,819 | $67K | 12.7% | 2.8% | 7% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,760 | 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.
Wales and the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Sabattus (4%). Darker towns draw more of Wales’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Wales workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wales | – | C− | D | 28 min | $77,004 |
| Greene | under 2% | B+ | D | 26 min | $98,093 |
| Sabattus | 4% | B | C− | 30 min | $59,387 |
| Monmouth | under 2% | B | C− | 30 min | $74,648 |
| Litchfield | under 2% | A− | C | 32 min | $84,904 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
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 Wales: questions
What is the median household income in Wales?
$77,004 (±$5,016) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,733 across Maine and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Wales?
25.3%, against 10.7% across Maine and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Wales?
28 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Maine and 26 nationally. 22% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Wales work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lewiston (22%, 7 mi), Auburn (12%, 10 mi), Portland (7%, 36 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Wales walkable?
Wales is more walkable than 8% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 5.2 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Wales 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 Wales, from the people who make the trip.
More of Wales
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.