Photo: MidniteOIL · CC BY-SA 4.0Dover has higher household incomes than 73% of U.S. towns
About one in five stay in Dover for work; outside it, Portsmouth is the main destination (21%, 10 miles). Poverty touches 8.3% of residents, next to 7.2% for New Hampshire as a whole. Jobs and income earn Dover B+; getting around on foot earns it A−.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Dover, in brief
Why Dover gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Dover is better than 67% of U.S. towns, #68 of 126 in New Hampshire. Household income is its strongest input ($94,829, U.S. $80,734); unemployment ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (4.1%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Dover could be anywhere from B− to A−.
Dover on a workday afternoon
On a workday 13,093 residents head out to work, 3,051 work right here, and 12,935 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 (0.99 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.
Where Dover goes to work
Where Dover clocks in
21% of workers
5% of workers
4% 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 15,986 jobs based in Dover
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Dover, 2013 → 2023: 15,997 → 15,986. 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 Dover’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 23 minutes in Dover
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Dover workers work from home, vs 17% across New Hampshire. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 16,007 commuters (the 19% 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.
Where in the region Dover works
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.
Dover is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Dover is more walkable than 85% of U.S. towns, #7 of 126 in New Hampshire. Both inputs place Dover 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 19,676 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). 5.0% of Dover households have no vehicle (New Hampshire 4.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of Dover’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Dover ranks: 672nd of 1,287 U.S. towns of 24,000 to 47,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 2 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 59 | Merrimack NH | 29,699 | $127K | 3.0% | 1.9% | 17% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 165 | Salem NH | 31,868 | $110K | 5.0% | 2.8% | 17% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 345 | Londonderry NH | 27,844 | $133K | 2.7% | 5.0% | 14% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 670 | Aventura FL | 39,880 | $89K | 11.4% | 4.7% | 13% | B+ |
| 671 | Englewood NJ | 30,035 | $103K | 9.2% | 7.8% | 12% | B+ |
| 672 | Dover NH | 34,623 | $95K | 8.3% | 4.1% | 19% | B+ |
| 673 | Brownstown Township MI | 32,680 | $95K | 8.5% | 5.9% | 4% | B+ |
| 674 | Kahului HI | 28,288 | $98K | 8.7% | 3.5% | 23% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,287 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Dover, the top three, the last and three more from New Hampshire.
Next door is work for 10% of Dover
The biggest share goes to Rochester (4%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Dover workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dover | – | B+ | A− | 23 min | $94,829 |
| Rollinsford | under 2% | B+ | B− | 26 min | $89,500 |
| Newington | 3% | — | — | 23 min | — |
| Madbury | under 2% | A | C+ | 25 min | $148,365 |
| Somersworth | 3% | B | B | 26 min | $74,504 |
| Rochester | 4% | B+ | B | 26 min | $80,836 |
Same-state neighbors only. Newington: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Dover’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 Dover: questions
What is the median household income in Dover?
$94,829 (±$6,905) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,031 across New Hampshire and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Dover?
8.3%, against 7.2% across New Hampshire and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Dover?
23 minutes each way on average, against 27 across New Hampshire and 26 nationally. 19% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Dover work?
19% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Portsmouth (21%, 10 mi), Durham (5%, 5 mi), Rochester (4%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Dover walkable?
Dover is more walkable than 85% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.3 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Dover without a car?
3% 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 Dover, from the people who make the trip.
More of Dover
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.