Photo: BMRR from en.wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Wells has higher unemployment (6.2%) than 76% of U.S. towns
Working residents average 28 minutes each way (Maine 25, U.S. 26). Jobs and income earn Wells B−; getting around on foot earns it B−. About one in five work in Wells; the top destination outside it is Portland (8%, 32 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Wells, in brief
Why Wells gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Wells is better than 54% of U.S. towns, #72 of 143 in Maine. The poverty rate holds Wells’ grade up (6.8%, U.S. 12.5%); unemployment pulls it down. It also does well on household income and job access by car.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Wells could be anywhere from C+ to A−.
Half of Wells commutes less than 15 miles
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.
How a workday changes Wells
On a workday 3,810 residents head out to work, 862 work right here, and 2,619 people come in from elsewhere.
About 11,000 people are in Wells on a workday afternoon, 10% fewer than live here.
0.75 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.
Where people from Wells work
Where Wells clocks in
8% of workers
7% 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.
Jobs in Wells: what the 3,481 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Wells, 2013 → 2023: 2,834 → 3,481. 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 Wells’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 28 minutes from Wells
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Wells workers work from home, vs 16% across Maine. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,442 commuters (the 18% 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.
Few in Wells walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Wells is more walkable than 46% of U.S. towns, #65 of 143 in Maine. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 3.0% 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 5,407 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). 1.2% of Wells households have no vehicle (Maine 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Wells’ commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 2,695 U.S. towns of 8,000 to 16,000, Wells comes 1,516th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 88 | Cumberland ME | 8,876 | $174K | 3.1% | 0.2% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 184 | Falmouth ME | 12,982 | $151K | 2.3% | 2.7% | 13% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 324 | Cape Elizabeth ME | 9,827 | $146K | 5.2% | 2.5% | 10% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,514 | Joshua TX | 9,352 | $68K | 19.2% | 2.7% | 6% | B− |
| 1,515 | Middletown PA | 9,776 | $56K | 12.4% | 2.9% | 4% | B− |
| 1,516 | Wells ME | 12,094 | $88K | 6.8% | 6.2% | 18% | B− |
| 1,517 | Townsend MA | 9,143 | $122K | 8.9% | 7.2% | 8% | B− |
| 1,518 | Mayfield Township MI | 8,070 | $69K | 7.7% | 3.4% | 5% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,695 | Roma TX | 11,543 | $25K | 37.1% | 12.4% | 22% | 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 Wells, the top three, the last and three more from Maine.
Work next door: 13% of Wells’ workers
The biggest share goes to Kennebunk (7%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Wells workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wells | – | B− | B− | 28 min | $88,024 |
| Kennebunk | 7% | B+ | B+ | 27 min | $107,804 |
| Ogunquit | 3% | A− | C− | 26 min | $114,259 |
| North Berwick | 3% | A− | C | 31 min | $101,875 |
| South Berwick | under 3% | B+ | C | 27 min | $99,572 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Wells’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 Wells: questions
What is the median household income in Wells?
$88,024 (±$11,382) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,733 across Maine and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Wells?
6.8%, against 10.7% across Maine and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Wells?
28 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Maine and 26 nationally. 18% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Wells work?
18% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Portland (8%, 32 mi), Kennebunk (7%, 6 mi), York (6%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Wells walkable?
Wells is more walkable than 46% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 5.9 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Wells without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Wells, from the people who make the trip.
More of Wells
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.