Work & commute · Manchester

Work & commute in Manchester, CT

Most working residents leave Manchester for work: only 17% work in town. The top destinations are Hartford (16%), East Hartford (6%) and Windsor (5%). Half commute less than 10 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

17%

4,651 of 27,662 working residents

Typical commute

10 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

23 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

14%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 23,011 Manchester residents head out of town to work, 4,651 work right here, and 20,744 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Manchester.

23,011live here, work elsewhere

4,651live and work here

20,744work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Manchester goes to work

Manchester (in town)right here

17%4,651

Hartford8.1 mi away

16%4,442

East Hartford4.4 mi away

6%1,551

Windsor10.2 mi away

5%1,284

South Windsor5.1 mi away

4%991

Bloomfield12.1 mi away

3%907

Glastonbury5.9 mi away

3%831

West Hartford11.9 mi away

3%765

Vernon5.5 mi away

3%692

Farmington16.7 mi away

2%629

Everywhere elseother towns and states

39%10,919

Lines run between town centers; a thicker line means more commuters. The top 10 towns each way.

How far

How far Manchester commutes

Straight-line distance from home to work, for every working resident. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

53%

32%

53%Under 10 mi

32%10–24 mi

9%25–50 mi

6%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Manchester is balanced between jobs and homes

0.92jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (0.92 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Manchester are

25,395 jobs are based in Manchester. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Manchester’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Manchester

25,395 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)15%

Trade, transport & utilities26%

Services (health, schools, offices…)59%

$1,250 a month or less16%

$1,251–$3,333 a month27%

Over $3,333 a month56%

Jobs Manchester residents hold

27,662 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)13%

Trade, transport & utilities21%

Services (health, schools, offices…)66%

$1,250 a month or less13%

$1,251–$3,333 a month24%

Over $3,333 a month64%

−5%

Jobs based in Manchester, 2013 → 2023: 26,806 → 25,395. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.

About these numbers

How to read this page

Every worker, home to workThe Census links each worker’s home block to their main job’s block, for jobs covered by unemployment insurance. That’s most jobs, but not the self-employed.

Where the employer saysA job counts where the employer reports it. Some big employers report one address for many sites, which can make a few commutes look longer than they are.

Two surveysFlows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time and working from home: the Census American Community Survey.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs; American Community Survey 5-year estimates.