Work & commute · Orleans

Work & commute in Orleans, MA

About one in 5 of Orleans’s working residents works in town. The top destinations are Barnstable Town (7%), Boston (7%) and Brewster (6%). Half commute less than 15 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

22%

453 of 2,050 working residents

Typical commute

15 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

22 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

27%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 1,597 Orleans residents head out of town to work, 453 work right here, and 2,402 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Orleans.

1,597live here, work elsewhere

453live and work here

2,402work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Orleans goes to work

Orleans (in town)right here

22%453

Barnstable Town21.4 mi away

7%147

Boston66.4 mi away

7%138

Brewster5.2 mi away

6%129

Chatham11.6 mi away

5%103

Harwich7.2 mi away

4%90

Eastham5.3 mi away

4%73

Dennis11.1 mi away

3%69

Yarmouth14.8 mi away

3%59

Wellfleet10.8 mi away

2%49

Everywhere elseother towns and states

36%740

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

How far

How far Orleans commutes

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

42%

17%

33%

42%Under 10 mi

17%10–24 mi

8%25–50 mi

33%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Orleans is balanced between jobs and homes

1.39jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (1.39 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Orleans are

2,855 jobs are based in Orleans. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Orleans’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Orleans

2,855 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)12%

Trade, transport & utilities25%

Services (health, schools, offices…)63%

$1,250 a month or less15%

$1,251–$3,333 a month25%

Over $3,333 a month60%

Jobs Orleans residents hold

2,050 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)11%

Trade, transport & utilities19%

Services (health, schools, offices…)70%

$1,250 a month or less14%

$1,251–$3,333 a month26%

Over $3,333 a month59%

−7%

Jobs based in Orleans, 2013 → 2023: 3,070 → 2,855. 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.