Work & commute · Northborough

Work & commute in Northborough, MA

Most working residents leave Northborough for work: only 9% work in town. The top destinations are Worcester (11%), Marlborough (9%) and Boston (8%). Half commute less than 12 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times
Work in town
9%
635 of 7,113 working residents
Typical commute
12 mi
Half commute less than this, straight-line
Average commute time
31 min
One way, from the Census survey
Work from home
23%
of workers, from the Census survey
Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 6,478 Northborough residents head out of town to work, 635 work right here, and 8,763 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Northborough.

6,478live here, work elsewhere
635live and work here
8,763work here, live elsewhere
Leave for workStayCome in
The map

Where Northborough goes to work

CambridgeWalthamFraminghamMarlboroughWorcesterLeominsterBostonShrewsburyNorthboroughGraftonBerlinHudsonWestboroughHoldenSouthboroughBoylstonWorcesterMarlboroughBostonFraminghamWestboroughSouthboroughHudsonCambridgeWalthamNorthborough
1
Worcester9.1 mi away
11%774
2
Marlborough5.4 mi away
9%639
3
Northborough (in town)right here
9%635
4
Boston32.3 mi away
8%581
5
Framingham10.8 mi away
5%366
6
Westborough4.2 mi away
5%366
7
Southborough6.1 mi away
3%209
8
Hudson6.8 mi away
2%140
9
Cambridge27.2 mi away
2%136
10
Waltham21.1 mi away
2%125
Everywhere elseother towns and states
44%3,142

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

How far

How far Northborough commutes

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

44%Under 10 mi
26%10–24 mi
25%25–50 mi
5%Over 50 mi
Job hub or commuter town?

Northborough is balanced between jobs and homes

1.32jobs per working resident
Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (1.32 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Northborough are

9,398 jobs are based in Northborough. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Northborough’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Northborough

9,398 jobs
Goods (factories, building, farms)13%
Trade, transport & utilities45%
Services (health, schools, offices…)42%
$1,250 a month or less13%
$1,251–$3,333 a month18%
Over $3,333 a month69%

Jobs Northborough residents hold

7,113 working residents
Goods (factories, building, farms)15%
Trade, transport & utilities16%
Services (health, schools, offices…)70%
$1,250 a month or less11%
$1,251–$3,333 a month16%
Over $3,333 a month73%
+32%

Jobs based in Northborough, 2013 → 2023: 7,102 → 9,398. 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.

The porch light’s on

Where to, neighbor?

You’re in Northborough, MAWorcester CountyView boundary

Nearby

All towns & citiesExplore the map
Loading boundary…

Northborough is your selected town. The feed includes posts assigned to this town, not a distance radius or ZIP code.

Neighborhoods narrow the feed further, while townwide announcements, events, and issues remain visible.

Boundary source: https://tigerweb.geo.census.gov/arcgis/rest/services/TIGERweb/Places_CouSub_ConCity_SubMCD/MapServer/15 · 2025-01-01