Photo: Joe Mabel · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Machias top those of 95% of U.S. towns
Machias grades A for jobs and income and B− for walkability. 5.1% of residents live below the poverty line, against 9.9% across Washington. For 7% of workers, the job is at home (Washington 20%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Machias apart on work
Machias is a place people come home to
There are 82 jobs based in Machias, about one for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Machias has about 710 people in it, 44% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Three in four Machias workers earn over $40,000 a year
78% of Machias’ working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, the top earnings band in the Census data. The jobs ↓
The quickest commute around
Machias’ 27-minute average trip is shorter than in any town next door, where it runs from 30 to 41 minutes. Next door ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 644 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The figures behind Machias’ Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Machias is better than 93% of U.S. towns. Household income is its strongest input ($151,875, U.S. $80,734); job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 68% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
Unemployment (5.7%) is left out: Machias’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, Machias could be anywhere from B+ to A+.
Who commutes out of Machias, and who commutes in
On a workday 644 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 82 people come in from elsewhere.
About 710 people are in Machias on a workday afternoon, 44% fewer than live here.
0.13 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 2024, primary jobs.
68% of the jobs in Machias pay over $3,333 a month
82 jobs are based in Machias.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Machias, 2014 → 2024: 31 → 82. 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 Machias’s own residents hold wherever they work.
18% of working residents work in Everett
Where Machias clocks in
18% of workers
17% 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.
The daily trip from Machias: about 27 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Machias workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 581 commuters (the 7% who work from home are left out). Across Washington: 79% drive alone, 4% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Half of Machias commutes less than 20 miles
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.
Machias is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Machias is more walkable than 54% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 8.9% across Washington, 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 627 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 4% 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 1.4 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 63% 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). 0.0% of Machias households have no vehicle (Washington 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Machias’ commuters take a bus or train.
Machias next to U.S. towns of 900 to 1,700: 165th of 4,866 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% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 20 | Yarrow Point WA | 1,143 | $250K | 4.5% | 2.2% | <1% | A+ |
| 21 | Woodway WA | 1,316 | $205K | 2.1% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 37 | Fife Heights WA | 1,446 | $157K | 2.4% | 4.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 163 | Lake Camelot IL | 1,629 | $134K | 0.0% | 3.3% | 0% | A |
| 164 | Wetherington OH | 1,138 | $168K | 8.2% | 0.0% | 1% | A |
| 165 | Machias WA | 1,276 | $152K | 5.1% | 5.7% | 0% | A |
| 166 | St. Jacob IL | 1,371 | $112K | 3.0% | 2.4% | 1% | A |
| 167 | Dane WI | 1,119 | $108K | 3.9% | 0.5% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 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 Machias, the top three, the last and three more from Washington.
The towns around Machias
The biggest share goes to Lake Stevens (8%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Machias workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Machias | – | A | B− | 27 min | $151,875 |
| Lake Stevens | 8% | A− | A | 35 min | $122,336 |
| Cavalero | under 2% | A+ | B | 41 min | $148,462 |
| Bunk Foss | under 2% | B+ | C | 30 min | $155,201 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Machias’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 Machias: questions
What is the median household income in Machias?
$151,875 (±$50,813) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Machias?
5.1%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Machias?
27 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Machias work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Everett (18%, 7 mi), Seattle (17%, 29 mi), Lake Stevens (8%, 2 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Machias walkable?
Machias is more walkable than 54% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 6.0 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Machias without a car?
2% 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 Machias, from the people who make the trip.
More of Machias
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.