Photo: Ascended Dreamer · CC BY-SA 4.0Almost no one in Sunapee’s labor force is looking for work
For jobs and income Sunapee is better than 62% of U.S. towns (B); for walkability it is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns (C+). Measured by household income, Sunapee is ahead of 78% of U.S. towns. About one in seven work in Sunapee itself; outside it, Lebanon draws the most (15%, 19 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Sunapee apart on work
Where Sunapee’s Jobs & income grade comes from
Unemployment holds Sunapee’s grade up (hardly any, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 17% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Sunapee could be anywhere from C+ to A−.
Time on the road from Sunapee: about 33 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sunapee workers work from home, vs 17% across New Hampshire. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,592 commuters (the 10% 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.
Sunapee on a workday afternoon
On a workday 1,184 residents head out to work, 168 work right here, and 464 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,700 people are in Sunapee on a workday afternoon, 21% fewer than live here.
0.47 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
The places Sunapee commutes to
Where Sunapee clocks in
15% of workers
9% of workers
8% 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 Sunapee: what the 632 are
632 jobs are based in Sunapee.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sunapee, 2013 → 2023: 547 → 632. 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 Sunapee’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Sunapee’s commute, mile by mile
About 15% 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.
Most trips from Sunapee start in a car
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,760 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). 1.1% of Sunapee households have no vehicle (New Hampshire 4.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Sunapee’s commuters take a bus or train.
Sunapee places 1,590th of 4,402 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 2,400 to 4,600
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 160 | North Hampton NH | 4,526 | $146K | 2.9% | 1.5% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 226 | Greenland NH | 4,143 | $163K | 0.5% | 2.3% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 278 | Mont Vernon NH | 2,698 | $158K | 4.4% | 1.5% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,588 | Whitefield ME | 2,410 | $74K | 7.1% | 1.3% | 3% | B |
| 1,589 | La Grand Township MN | 4,309 | $94K | 10.0% | 2.5% | 3% | B |
| 1,590 | Sunapee NH | 3,442 | $101K | 12.4% | 0.0% | 12% | B |
| 1,591 | Kent CT | 3,101 | $96K | 9.0% | 2.6% | 34% | B |
| 1,592 | Blue Hill Township MN | 2,625 | $108K | 6.7% | 3.2% | 1% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 4,402 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Sunapee, the top three, the last and three more from New Hampshire.
Next door is work for 13% of Sunapee
The biggest share goes to New London (9%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Sunapee workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunapee | – | B | C+ | 33 min | $101,393 |
| New London | 9% | B+ | A− | 25 min | $107,773 |
| Newbury | 4% | A− | C | 33 min | $116,477 |
| Goshen | under 2% | — | — | 23 min | — |
| Croydon | under 2% | — | — | 26 min | — |
| Springfield | under 2% | B+ | D | 34 min | $100,893 |
Same-state neighbors only. Goshen: not graded. Croydon: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Sunapee’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 Sunapee: questions
What is the median household income in Sunapee?
$101,393 (±$20,098) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,031 across New Hampshire and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sunapee?
12.4%, against 7.2% across New Hampshire and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sunapee?
33 minutes each way on average, against 27 across New Hampshire and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sunapee work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lebanon (15%, 19 mi), New London (9%, 6 mi), Newport (8%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Sunapee walkable?
Sunapee is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 6.2 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sunapee without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sunapee, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sunapee
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.