Every workday, about 5,600 people come to Devens for work
Most working residents leave Devens for work: only 5% work in town. The top destinations are Boston (11%), Harvard (6%) and Ayer (5%). Half commute less than 21 miles.
What kind of work town is Devens?
Read from the numbers below. The page puts what stands out first.
Devens’s population more than triples on a workday
On a workday 567 residents head out to work, 29 work right here, and 5,639 people come in from elsewhere.
About 6,800 people are in Devens on a workday afternoon, 294% more than live here.
9.5 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
Devens makes things: 40% of its jobs are in goods
5,668 jobs are based in Devens. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Devens’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Devens, 2013 → 2023: 2,311 → 5,668. 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.
About 28 minutes each way, about the MA average
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Devens workers work from home, vs 19% across Massachusetts. Their commute is the hallway.
Where Devens’s workers come from
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Devens clocks in
11% of workers
6% of workers
5% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
Half of Devens commutes less than 21 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
11% of Devens works in a bordering town
The biggest share goes to Harvard (6%). Darker towns draw more of Devens’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
Average commute minutes, one way
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Every worker, home to work. The 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 says. A 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 surveys. Flows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: the Census American Community Survey.
- Straight lines. Distances are as the crow flies between home and work. Roads, rivers and traffic make the real trip longer.
More of Devens
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Devens, from the people who make the trip.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
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.