Photo: Ascended Dreamer · CC BY 4.0Orford has higher household incomes than 71% of U.S. towns
Orford grades B− for jobs and income and B for walkability. 5.8% of residents are in poverty (New Hampshire 7.2%). Only 3% work in Orford; the top destination outside it is Lebanon (18%, 20 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Orford and work: the main findings
Inside Orford’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Orford is better than 54% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Orford’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 12% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (4.8%) is left out: Orford’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Orford could be anywhere from C to B+.
The places Orford commutes to
Where Orford clocks in
18% of workers
8% of workers
6% 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.
Orford on a workday afternoon
On a workday 509 residents head out to work, 14 work right here, and 388 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,100 people are in Orford on a workday afternoon, 10% fewer than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.77 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Mostly health care, schools and offices in Orford
402 jobs are based in Orford.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Orford, 2014 → 2024: 214 → 402. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Orford’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 26 minutes to work from Orford
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Orford workers work from home, vs 17% across New Hampshire. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 651 commuters (the 11% 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 Orford works
About 23% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Most of Orford commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Orford is more walkable than 62% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 6.1% 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 730 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 1.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 58% 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). 4.3% of Orford households have no vehicle (New Hampshire 4.6%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Orford’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Orford is 1,457th of 4,866 U.S. towns of 900 to 1,700
| # | 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% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 527 | Mason NH | 1,460 | $111K | 4.7% | 2.7% | 7% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 712 | Center Harbor NH | 1,049 | $104K | 2.0% | 2.8% | 5% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 793 | Wilmot NH | 1,471 | $118K | 2.3% | 1.6% | 2% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,455 | Shipman Township IL | 1,273 | $98K | 9.6% | 1.2% | 4% | B− |
| 1,456 | Shieldsville Township MN | 1,101 | $101K | 10.4% | 1.1% | <1% | B− |
| 1,457 | Orford NH | 1,229 | $93K | 5.8% | 4.8% | 3% | B− |
| 1,458 | Taylors Falls MN | 1,054 | $68K | 5.4% | 2.2% | 1% | B− |
| 1,459 | Livonia NY | 1,469 | $72K | 9.3% | 2.6% | 4% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,866 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 1% | 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 Orford, the top three, the last and three more from New Hampshire.
Orford and its neighbors: 13% work next door
The biggest share goes to Wentworth (6%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Orford workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orford | – | B− | B | 26 min | $92,571 |
| Wentworth | 6% | — | — | 20 min | — |
| Piermont | under 3% | — | — | 26 min | — |
| Lyme | under 3% | B+ | B− | 21 min | $133,906 |
Same-state neighbors only. Wentworth: not graded. Piermont: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Orford’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 2024, 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 Orford: questions
What is the median household income in Orford?
$92,571 (±$23,889) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,031 across New Hampshire and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Orford?
5.8%, against 7.2% across New Hampshire and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Orford?
26 minutes each way on average, against 27 across New Hampshire and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Orford work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lebanon (18%, 20 mi), Hanover (8%, 14 mi), Wentworth (6%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Orford walkable?
Orford is more walkable than 62% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 6.0 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Orford without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Orford, from the people who make the trip.
More of Orford
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.