Photo: User:Ken Gallager · CC BY-SA 4.0At 1.1%, unemployment in Walpole is lower than in 94% of U.S. towns
Working from home is the commute for 7% of workers, next to 17% for New Hampshire as a whole. The two grades for Walpole are B for jobs and income and C− for walkability. About one in five stay in Walpole for work; outside it, Keene is the main destination (14%, 10 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Walpole
Many of the people who work in Walpole live in another state
Rockingham, VT (8%), Springfield, VT (3%) and Westminster, VT (3%) are among the top places Walpole’s workers come from. Counting only the top ten home towns, 14% of the jobs here are held by people from out of state. The commute map ↓
Walpole makes and builds things
42% of the jobs based in Walpole are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Walpole residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 22%. 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.
What’s behind Walpole’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Walpole is better than 56% of U.S. towns, #92 of 126 in New Hampshire. Unemployment holds Walpole’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 23% 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, Walpole could be anywhere from C to A−.
Where people from Walpole work
Where Walpole clocks in
14% 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.
In Walpole, 42% of jobs are in factories, building or farming
1,457 jobs are based in Walpole.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Walpole, 2013 → 2023: 1,251 → 1,457. 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 Walpole’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily commute in and out of Walpole
On a workday 1,456 residents head out to work, 307 work right here, and 1,150 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 (0.83 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.
The trip to work from Walpole: about 23 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Walpole workers work from home, vs 17% across New Hampshire. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,594 commuters (the 7% 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 Walpole works
About 16% 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 Walpole: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Walpole is more walkable than 19% of U.S. towns, #113 of 126 in New Hampshire. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.6% across New Hampshire.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,717 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). 0.5% of Walpole households have no vehicle (New Hampshire 4.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Walpole’s commuters take a bus or train.
Walpole is 1,885th of 4,318 U.S. towns of 2,600 to 5,000 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 156 | North Hampton NH | 4,526 | $146K | 2.9% | 1.5% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 225 | Greenland NH | 4,143 | $163K | 0.5% | 2.3% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 282 | Mont Vernon NH | 2,698 | $158K | 4.4% | 1.5% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,883 | Ponderosa Park CO | 3,453 | $132K | 5.4% | 6.7% | 2% | B |
| 1,884 | West Tisbury MA | 3,645 | $183K | 3.6% | 6.1% | 22% | B |
| 1,885 | Walpole NH | 3,706 | $83K | 11.7% | 1.1% | 17% | B |
| 1,886 | Glen NY | 2,649 | $84K | 16.4% | 0.1% | 7% | B |
| 1,887 | Clearcreek Township OH | 4,165 | $98K | 8.5% | 5.2% | 3% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 4,318 | 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 Walpole, the top three, the last and three more from New Hampshire.
Walpole and its neighbors: 12% work next door
The biggest share goes to Rockingham (5%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Walpole workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Walpole | – | B | C− | 23 min | $82,617 |
| Westmoreland | 3% | B+ | C | 23 min | $104,444 |
| Langdon | under 3% | — | — | 30 min | — |
| Alstead | under 3% | C | D | 32 min | $64,526 |
Same-state neighbors only. Langdon: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Walpole’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 Walpole: questions
What is the median household income in Walpole?
$82,617 (±$15,822) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,031 across New Hampshire and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Walpole?
11.7%, against 7.2% across New Hampshire and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Walpole?
23 minutes each way on average, against 27 across New Hampshire and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Walpole work?
17% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Keene (14%, 10 mi), Rockingham (5%, 8 mi), Brattleboro (4%, 19 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Walpole walkable?
Walpole is more walkable than 19% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.6 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Walpole without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Walpole, from the people who make the trip.
More of Walpole
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.