97% of Harwich Center’s working residents leave town for work
Most working residents leave Harwich Center for work: only 3% work in town. The top destinations are Harwich (18%), Chatham (12%) and Barnstable Town (11%). Half commute less than 9 miles.
The short version on getting to work from Harwich Center
Fewer jobs are based in Harwich Center than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Harwich Center fell from 816 in 2013 to 489 in 2023, −40%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
Harwich Center’s workforce skews older
36% of Harwich Center’s working residents are 55 or older. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Harwich Center are quick
The average trip to work takes 24 minutes, against 29 across Massachusetts. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical Massachusetts worker. Time on the road ↓
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; with 822 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Mostly services: health care, schools and offices
489 jobs are based in Harwich Center. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Harwich Center’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Harwich Center, 2013 → 2023: 816 → 489. 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 24 minutes each way, quicker than most of Massachusetts
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Harwich Center workers work from home, vs 19% across Massachusetts. Their commute is the hallway.
Harwich Center quiets down on a workday
On a workday 801 residents head out to work, 21 work right here, and 468 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,400 people are in Harwich Center on a workday afternoon, 19% fewer than live here.
0.59 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.
18% of working residents work in Harwich
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Harwich Center clocks in
18% of workers
12% of workers
11% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
Half of Harwich Center commutes less than 9 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
About 26% 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.
Harwich Center and the towns next door
Darker towns draw more of Harwich Center’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 Harwich Center
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Harwich Center, 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.