For about two in five of its working residents, Maine is a commute to Wausau
Household incomes here are higher than in 84% of U.S. towns. For jobs and income Maine is better than 89% of U.S. towns (A); for walkability it is more walkable than 55% of U.S. towns (B−). 2.8% of residents are in poverty; Wisconsin has 10.6%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Maine at work: what stands out
Maine makes and builds things
57% of the jobs based in Maine are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Maine residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 32%. 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.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Maine
The poverty rate holds Maine’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 47% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Maine could be anywhere from A− to A.
Goods, not services: 57% of the jobs in Maine
807 jobs are based in Maine.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Maine, 2013 → 2023: 715 → 807. 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 Maine’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Out of Maine to work: where people go
Where Maine clocks in
40% 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.
A workday in Maine: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 1,184 residents head out to work, 41 work right here, and 766 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,200 people are in Maine on a workday afternoon, 16% fewer than live here.
0.66 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.
Getting to work from Maine takes about 21 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Maine workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,205 commuters (the 18% who work from home are left out). Across Wisconsin: 86% 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 Maine commutes
About 19% 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.
Few in Maine walk, bike or ride to work
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, the same share as across Wisconsin, on an EPA index of 5.8.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,472 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). 0.5% of Maine households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Maine’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,800 to 3,500, Maine ranks 429th of 5,083 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 36 | North Prairie WI | 2,193 | $153K | 2.8% | 0.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 85 | Sun Prairie WI | 2,291 | $127K | 2.0% | 1.8% | 2% | A+ |
| 86 | Verona WI | 2,092 | $150K | 2.6% | 2.0% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 427 | Piney Point Village TX | 3,141 | $250K | 1.0% | 8.5% | 3% | A |
| 428 | Hortonville WI | 3,340 | $82K | 4.4% | 0.7% | 5% | A |
| 429 | Maine WI | 2,621 | $111K | 2.8% | 2.1% | 3% | A |
| 430 | Minster OH | 3,062 | $88K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 20% | A |
| 431 | Hedwig Village TX | 2,383 | $224K | 4.3% | 6.2% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 5,083 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Maine, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
40% of Maine works in a bordering town
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Maine workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maine | – | A | B− | 21 min | $110,721 |
| Wausau | 40% | C+ | A− | 15 min | $64,389 |
| Texas | under 2% | B+ | C− | 21 min | $86,875 |
| Stettin | under 2% | A | C− | 22 min | $104,697 |
| Berlin | under 2% | — | — | 23 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Berlin: the same community as the city of that name, graded once. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Wausau. Darker towns draw more of Maine’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 Maine: questions
What is the median household income in Maine?
$110,721 (±$16,073) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Maine?
2.8%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Maine?
21 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 18% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Maine work?
3% work in town.
Is Maine walkable?
Maine is more walkable than 55% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 5.8 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Maine without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Maine, from the people who make the trip.
More of Maine
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.