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Work & commute in South Ashburnham · Balanced

97% of South Ashburnham’s working residents leave town for work

Most working residents leave South Ashburnham for work: only 3% work in town. The top destinations are Ashburnham (8%), Fitchburg (8%) and Gardner (8%). Half commute less than 19 miles.

Work in town
3%
17 of 565 working residents
Typical commute
19 mi
half travel less, straight-line
Time each way
29 min
Less than MA (29 min)
Work from home
15%
Less than MA (19%)
Jobs based here
432
Balanced

What kind of work town is South Ashburnham?

Read from the numbers below. The page puts what stands out first.

★ What stands out · The jobs

Mostly services: health care, schools and offices

432 jobs are based in South Ashburnham. Here is what they are, next to the jobs South Ashburnham’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in South AshburnhamJobs South Ashburnham residents hold

What kind of work

Goods: factories, building, farms3%17%
Trade, transport & utilities10%16%
Services: health, schools, offices87%66%

What it pays

$1,250 a month or less16%13%
$1,251–$3,333 a month23%16%
Over $3,333 a month61%71%

Who does it

29 or younger18%21%
30 to 5456%52%
55 and older26%28%
+16%

Jobs based in South Ashburnham, 2013 → 2023: 373 → 432. 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.

Day and night

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 548 residents head out to work, 17 work right here, and 415 people come in from elsewhere.

548live here, work elsewhere
17live and work here
415work here, live elsewhere
Night and day
At night1,500
Workday1,400
1,500live here− 550head out to work+ 420come in to work= 1,400on a workday

About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.

Job hub or commuter town?
0.76jobs per workerCommuter townJob hub

About as many jobs as working residents (0.76 per resident).

Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.

The commute map

8% of working residents work in Ashburnham

A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.

Gardner: 43 residents work here (8%)Worcester: 32 residents work here (6%)Leominster: 30 residents work here (5%)Fitchburg: 44 residents work here (8%)Boston: 28 residents work here (5%)HubbardstonWinchendon: 11 residents work here (2%)AtholLunenburg: 9 residents work here (2%)Ashburnham: 46 residents work here (8%)Ayer: 14 residents work here (2%)Westminster: 15 residents work here (3%)TempletonSouth AshburnhamAshburnhamFitchburgGardnerWorcesterLeominsterBostonSouth Ashburnham
1
Ashburnham2.3 mi away
8%46
2
Fitchburg6.6 mi away
8%44
3
Gardner3.4 mi away
8%43
4
Worcester25.3 mi away
6%32
5
Leominster11.2 mi away
5%30
6
Boston51.4 mi away
5%28
7
Westminster5.1 mi away
3%15
8
Ayer19.1 mi away
2%14
9
Winchendon6.6 mi away
2%11
10
Lunenburg11.6 mi away
2%9
Everywhere elseother towns and states
52%293
The top trips

Where South Ashburnham clocks in

Lines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.

How far

Half of South Ashburnham commutes less than 19 miles

Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

10 mi25 mi50 mi60 miAshburnham: 8% · 2.3 miFitchburg: 8% · 6.6 miGardner: 8% · 3.4 miWorcester: 6% · 25.3 miLeominster: 5% · 11.2 miBoston: 5% · 51.4 miWestminster: 3% · 5.1 miAyer: 2% · 19.1 miWinchendon: 2% · 6.6 miLunenburg: 2% · 11.6 miAshburnham 8%Fitchburg 8%Gardner 8%Worcester 6%Leominster 5%South Ashburnham
South AshburnhamTop destinations (size = commuters)
32%Under 10 mi178 residents
26%10–24 mi146 residents
36%25–50 mi201 residents
7%Over 50 mi40 residents

Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.

Time on the road

About 29 minutes each way, about the MA average

From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.

A year of commuting
219 hours

Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.1 full days in the car, bus or train.

Average commute minutes, one way

South Ashburnham29 min
Massachusetts29 min
U.S.26 min
Working from home
15%

of South Ashburnham workers work from home, vs 19% across Massachusetts. Their commute is the hallway.

About 1 in 10
Next door

16% of South Ashburnham works in a bordering town

The biggest share goes to Ashburnham (8%). Darker towns draw more of South Ashburnham’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.

10%+5–9%2–4%1%Under 1%

Average commute minutes, one way

South Ashburnham29 min
Gardner31 min
Ashburnham32 min
How to read these numbers

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.
Beyond the commute

More of South Ashburnham

South Ashburnham home →

Commuter talk

Getting to work from South Ashburnham, from the people who make the trip.

Town Square →
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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.

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