Work & commute · Portland

Work & commute in Portland, CT

Most working residents leave Portland for work: only 9% work in town. The top destinations are Middletown (11%), Hartford (10%) and East Hartford (4%). Half commute less than 13 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

410 of 4,555 working residents

Typical commute

13 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

28 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

19%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 4,145 Portland residents head out of town to work, 410 work right here, and 1,832 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Portland.

4,145live here, work elsewhere

410live and work here

1,832work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Portland goes to work

Middletown4.9 mi away

11%517

Hartford12.5 mi away

10%474

Portland (in town)right here

9%410

East Hartford11.2 mi away

4%161

New Haven26.4 mi away

3%155

Glastonbury6.7 mi away

3%146

Farmington15.9 mi away

3%120

New Britain11.5 mi away

2%112

Meriden11.4 mi away

2%111

Rocky Hill5.5 mi away

2%109

Everywhere elseother towns and states

49%2,240

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

How far

How far Portland commutes

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

36%

45%

13%

36%Under 10 mi

45%10–24 mi

13%25–50 mi

6%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Portland is a commuter town

0.49jobs per working resident

A commuter town

0.49 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.

The jobs

What the jobs in Portland are

2,242 jobs are based in Portland. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Portland’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Portland

2,242 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)17%

Trade, transport & utilities27%

Services (health, schools, offices…)56%

$1,250 a month or less15%

$1,251–$3,333 a month24%

Over $3,333 a month61%

Jobs Portland residents hold

4,555 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)16%

Trade, transport & utilities17%

Services (health, schools, offices…)68%

$1,250 a month or less11%

$1,251–$3,333 a month17%

Over $3,333 a month72%

+5%

Jobs based in Portland, 2013 → 2023: 2,128 → 2,242. 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.