Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0Ashland has lower household incomes than 82% of U.S. towns
About one in ten work in Ashland itself; outside it, Plymouth draws the most (12%, 4 miles). Below the poverty line: 21.1% of residents (New Hampshire 7.2%). Jobs and income earn Ashland C−; getting around on foot earns it B.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs & income in Ashland: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Ashland is better than 22% of U.S. towns. Unemployment holds Ashland’s grade up (3.0%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Ashland could be anywhere from D to B−.
Who commutes out of Ashland, and who commutes in
On a workday 767 residents head out to work, 94 work right here, and 705 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 (0.93 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.
The places Ashland commutes to
Where Ashland clocks in
12% of workers
7% of workers
5% 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.
What Ashland’s employers do
799 jobs are based in Ashland.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ashland, 2013 → 2023: 815 → 799. 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 Ashland’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 26 minutes to work from Ashland
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ashland workers work from home, vs 17% across New Hampshire. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 911 commuters (the 10% who work from home are left out). Across New Hampshire: 87% 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.
The commute from Ashland, by distance
About 19% 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.
Getting around Ashland: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Ashland is more walkable than 65% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Ashland 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 1,011 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 10.0% of Ashland households have no vehicle (New Hampshire 4.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Ashland’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ashland places 3,694th of 5,234 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 1,400 to 2,600
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 160 | Newfields NH | 1,775 | $198K | 2.4% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 237 | Hampton Falls NH | 2,379 | $166K | 4.0% | 2.8% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 269 | Kensington NH | 2,092 | $165K | 1.9% | 3.6% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,692 | Princeton Township IN | 1,540 | $71K | 16.8% | 2.3% | 16% | C− |
| 3,693 | Adams Township MI | 2,565 | $64K | 11.7% | 5.1% | 6% | C− |
| 3,694 | Ashland NH | 1,943 | $55K | 21.1% | 3.0% | 11% | C− |
| 3,695 | Keno OR | 1,651 | $73K | 11.6% | 7.8% | 2% | C− |
| 3,696 | Springfield SD | 1,926 | $56K | 7.0% | 5.9% | 15% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,234 | 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 Ashland, the top three, the last and three more from New Hampshire.
15% of Ashland works in a bordering town
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Ashland workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ashland | – | C− | B | 26 min | $54,607 |
| Plymouth | 12% | C− | A | 18 min | $77,027 |
| Bridgewater | under 2% | C | B+ | 30 min | $82,361 |
| Holderness | 3% | C+ | B− | 27 min | $107,863 |
| New Hampton | under 2% | B | B− | 33 min | $95,250 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Plymouth. Darker towns draw more of Ashland’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 Ashland: questions
What is the median household income in Ashland?
$54,607 (±$8,919) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,031 across New Hampshire and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ashland?
21.1%, against 7.2% across New Hampshire and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ashland?
26 minutes each way on average, against 27 across New Hampshire and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ashland work?
11% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Plymouth (12%, 4 mi), Concord (7%, 34 mi), Laconia (5%, 13 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Ashland walkable?
Ashland is more walkable than 65% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ashland without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Ashland, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ashland
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.