Photo: Ascended Dreamer · CC BY 4.0Most of Jefferson commutes out: there are 0.5 jobs for every working resident
For jobs and income Jefferson is better than 26% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 43% of U.S. towns (C+). Jefferson has 254 jobs, and 474 of its residents work somewhere. Only 7% work in Jefferson itself; outside it, Carroll draws the most (25%, 7 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Jefferson stands out on work
A lot of Jefferson works one town over
40% of working residents work in a town that borders Jefferson: Carroll (25%), Lancaster (8%) and Whitefield (7%). Next door ↓
Jefferson workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 35 minutes each way, against 27 across New Hampshire. Over a year that’s about 268 hours of commuting, 61 more than the state’s typical worker. Every town next door averages less (22 to 27 minutes). Time on the road ↓
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; with 474 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Jefferson
The poverty rate holds Jefferson’s grade up (8.7%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 6% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (2.1%) is left out: Jefferson’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Jefferson could be anywhere from D to B−.
Commuting from Jefferson: about 35 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Jefferson workers work from home, vs 17% across New Hampshire. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 400 commuters (the 18% 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.
Jefferson on a workday afternoon
On a workday 443 residents head out to work, 31 work right here, and 223 people come in from elsewhere.
About 840 people are in Jefferson on a workday afternoon, 21% fewer than live here.
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 Jefferson’s working residents head each day
Where Jefferson clocks in
25% of workers
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 Jefferson: what the 254 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Jefferson, 2013 → 2023: 274 → 254. 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 Jefferson’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Near or far: the trip to work from Jefferson
About 27% 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 Jefferson: mostly by car
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 2.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.6% across New Hampshire, on an EPA index of 6.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 485 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). 15.1% of Jefferson households have no vehicle (New Hampshire 4.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Jefferson’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 700 to 1,400, Jefferson ranks 1,888th of 3,133 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 423 | Center Harbor NH | 1,049 | $104K | 2.0% | 2.8% | 4% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 567 | Springfield NH | 1,306 | $101K | 3.4% | 1.0% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 602 | Richmond NH | 1,234 | $89K | 2.7% | 13.4% | 3% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,886 | Glidden IA | 1,133 | $68K | 11.7% | 3.0% | 3% | C |
| 1,887 | Mount Forest Township MI | 1,388 | $65K | 11.2% | 7.9% | 1% | C |
| 1,888 | Jefferson NH | 1,063 | $67K | 8.7% | 2.1% | 7% | C |
| 1,889 | Cross Creek Township PA | 1,358 | $68K | 16.4% | 12.2% | 2% | C |
| 1,890 | Sandy Springs SC | 1,105 | $71K | 32.7% | 5.6% | <1% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 3,133 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Jefferson, the top three, the last and three more from New Hampshire.
Work next door: 40% of Jefferson’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Jefferson workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jefferson | – | C | C+ | 35 min | $67,188 |
| Carroll | 25% | — | — | 22 min | — |
| Whitefield | 7% | C | C+ | 26 min | $63,125 |
| Lancaster | 8% | C | A− | 23 min | $68,911 |
| Randolph | under 2% | — | — | 27 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Carroll and Randolph: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Carroll. Darker towns draw more of Jefferson’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 Jefferson: questions
What is the median household income in Jefferson?
$67,188 (±$12,541) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,031 across New Hampshire and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Jefferson?
8.7%, against 7.2% across New Hampshire and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Jefferson?
35 minutes each way on average, against 27 across New Hampshire and 26 nationally. 18% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Jefferson work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Carroll (25%, 7 mi), Lancaster (8%, 7 mi), Littleton (7%, 17 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Jefferson walkable?
Jefferson is more walkable than 43% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 6.0 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Jefferson without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 15% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Jefferson, from the people who make the trip.
More of Jefferson
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.