Photo: Ken_Gallager (Uploads) · CC BY-SA 3.0Hanover’s household incomes are higher than in 97% of U.S. towns
Jobs & income B: better than 64% of U.S. towns on income, poverty, unemployment and job access · #74 of 126 in New Hampshire.
Walkability A+: more walkable than 97% of U.S. towns · #1 of 126 in New Hampshire.
Working residents average 20 minutes each way (New Hampshire 27, U.S. 26). About one in three work in Hanover; the top destination outside it is Lebanon (27%, 7 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Hanover, in brief
Hanover is where the jobs are
Hanover has 7,455 jobs, 2.1 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Many of the people who work in Hanover live in another state
Hartford, VT (7%), Norwich, VT (5%) and Thetford, VT (3%) are among the top places Hanover’s workers come from. Counting only the top ten home towns, 17% of the jobs here are held by people from out of state. The commute map ↓
Most jobs in Hanover pay over $40,000 a year
79% of the jobs based in Hanover pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), the top earnings band in the Census data. The jobs ↓
Hanover and Lebanon trade workers both ways
Lebanon is the top workplace for Hanover residents (27%) and also where the most people who work in Hanover come from (16% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Most Hanover residents work close to home
65% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. How far ↓
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.
What’s behind Hanover’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Hanover is better than 64% of U.S. towns, #74 of 126 in New Hampshire. Household income holds Hanover’s grade up ($169,583, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down (6.7%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Hanover could be anywhere from B− to A−.
Hanover fills up on a workday
On a workday 2,396 residents head out to work, 1,221 work right here, and 6,234 people come in from elsewhere.
About 16,000 people are in Hanover on a workday afternoon, 32% more than live here.
2.1 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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 Hanover’s workers come from
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Hanover clocks in
27% of workers
3% of workers
3% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
Mostly services: health care, schools and offices
7,455 jobs are based in Hanover. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Hanover’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Hanover, 2013 → 2023: 9,894 → 7,455. 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.
Half of Hanover commutes less than 5 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
About 26% 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.
About 20 minutes each way, quicker than most of New Hampshire
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Hanover workers work from home, vs 17% across New Hampshire. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,110 commuters (the 26% 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.
Hanover is more walkable than 97% of U.S. towns
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Hanover is more walkable than 97% of U.S. towns, #1 of 126 in New Hampshire. Both inputs place Hanover 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 4,225 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 76% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 61% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 17.6 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 97% 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). 9.9% of Hanover households have no vehicle (New Hampshire 4.6%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Hanover’s commuters take a bus or train.
Hanover is 1,279th of 2,695 U.S. towns of 8,000 to 16,000 on jobs and income
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Hanover, the top three, the last and three more from New Hampshire.
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 134 | Hollis NH | 8,819 | $169K | 1.9% | 2.0% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 229 | Amherst NH | 11,985 | $153K | 4.4% | 1.5% | 9% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 269 | Litchfield NH | 8,704 | $162K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 6% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,277 | Tucson Estates AZ | 12,136 | $67K | 7.8% | 2.4% | 3% | B |
| 1,278 | Harwich MA | 13,635 | $97K | 4.9% | 4.7% | 17% | B |
| 1,279 | Hanover NH | 12,054 | $170K | 5.6% | 6.7% | 34% | B |
| 1,280 | Harrison Township PA | 9,688 | $66K | 9.9% | 2.7% | 11% | B |
| 1,281 | Avocado Heights CA | 12,593 | $92K | 11.5% | 5.9% | 3% | 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.
28% of Hanover works in a bordering town
The biggest share goes to Lebanon (27%). Darker towns draw more of Hanover’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
Average commute minutes, one way
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 Hanover: questions
What is the median household income in Hanover?
$169,583 (±$35,895) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,031 across New Hampshire and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Hanover?
5.6%, against 7.2% across New Hampshire and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Hanover?
20 minutes each way on average, against 27 across New Hampshire and 26 nationally. 26% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Hanover work?
34% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lebanon (27%, 7 mi), Hartford (3%, 11 mi), Manchester (3%, 63 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Hanover walkable?
Hanover is more walkable than 97% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 12.1 out of 20, and 18% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Hanover without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. 61% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Hanover, from the people who make the trip.
More of Hanover
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.