Photo: Wesman83 · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Plaistow are higher than in 83% of U.S. towns
About one in ten work in Plaistow; the top destination outside it is Haverhill (7%, 4 miles). Below the poverty line: 4.5% of residents, next to 7.2% across New Hampshire. For jobs and income Plaistow is better than 84% of U.S. towns (A−); for walkability it is more walkable than 60% of U.S. towns (B).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Plaistow, in a few figures
Plaistow trades workers with the towns around it
Plaistow has about as many jobs (4,713) as working residents (4,318), but they are mostly different people: 3,917 residents leave for work each day while 4,312 people come in. Only 9% of the jobs in Plaistow are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
No single place dominates Plaistow’s commute
The biggest draw, Haverhill, MA, gets only 7% of working residents, and 58% work outside the top ten towns entirely. Plaistow residents fan out across the region. The commute map ↓
Stores, warehouses and trucking
42% of the jobs in Plaistow are in trade, transport and utilities, against 22% of the jobs its residents hold. The jobs ↓
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.
Inside Plaistow’s Jobs & income grade
The poverty rate holds Plaistow’s grade up; unemployment pulls it down (4.4%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Plaistow could be anywhere from B+ to A+.
Who commutes out of Plaistow, and who commutes in
On a workday 3,917 residents head out to work, 401 work right here, and 4,312 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 (1.09 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 the trip to work from Plaistow ends
Where Plaistow clocks in
7% 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.
What Plaistow’s employers do
4,713 jobs are based in Plaistow.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Plaistow, 2013 → 2023: 4,628 → 4,713. 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 Plaistow’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 29 minutes each way for Plaistow’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Plaistow workers work from home, vs 17% across New Hampshire. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,767 commuters (the 14% 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.
How many miles Plaistow commutes
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.
Most of Plaistow commutes by car
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 4,358 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 0.8 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 55% 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). 0.3% of Plaistow households have no vehicle (New Hampshire 4.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Plaistow’s commuters take a bus or train.
Plaistow next to U.S. towns of 5,500 to 10,600: 670th of 3,026 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 108 | Auburn NH | 6,336 | $153K | 2.5% | 1.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 134 | Hollis NH | 8,819 | $169K | 1.9% | 2.0% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 143 | Brookline NH | 5,858 | $171K | 0.6% | 0.9% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 668 | Morrisville PA | 9,665 | $100K | 8.6% | 3.3% | 3% | A− |
| 669 | Rochester MA | 5,956 | $120K | 5.4% | 3.2% | 9% | A− |
| 670 | Plaistow NH | 7,848 | $108K | 4.5% | 4.4% | 9% | A− |
| 671 | Medina TN | 5,813 | $108K | 2.6% | 3.3% | 3% | A− |
| 672 | Cambria NY | 5,727 | $112K | 5.0% | 3.8% | 5% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,026 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Plaistow, the top three, the last and three more from New Hampshire.
Next door to Plaistow
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Plaistow workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plaistow | – | A− | B | 29 min | $108,317 |
| Atkinson | under 3% | A | C | 28 min | $146,380 |
| Kingston | under 3% | A | C | 34 min | $105,330 |
| Newton | under 3% | A | C− | 30 min | $138,487 |
| Hampstead | under 3% | A | C+ | 30 min | $112,348 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Haverhill. Darker towns draw more of Plaistow’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 Plaistow: questions
What is the median household income in Plaistow?
$108,317 (±$13,386) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,031 across New Hampshire and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Plaistow?
4.5%, against 7.2% across New Hampshire and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Plaistow?
29 minutes each way on average, against 27 across New Hampshire and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Plaistow work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Haverhill (7%, 4 mi), Salem (5%, 8 mi), Manchester (4%, 20 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Plaistow walkable?
Plaistow is more walkable than 60% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Plaistow without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and <1% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Plaistow, from the people who make the trip.
More of Plaistow
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.