91% of South Dennis’s working residents leave town for work
Most working residents leave South Dennis for work: only 9% work in town. The top destinations are Dennis (17%), Barnstable Town (16%) and Yarmouth (9%). Half commute less than 9 miles.
The short version on getting to work from South Dennis
South Dennis trades workers with the towns around it
South Dennis has about as many jobs (1,918) as working residents (1,635), but they are mostly different people: 1,488 residents leave for work each day while 1,771 people come in. Only 8% of the jobs in South Dennis are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Stores, warehouses and trucking
47% of the jobs in South Dennis are in trade, transport and utilities, against 20% of the jobs its residents hold. The jobs ↓
South Dennis’ workforce skews older
36% of South Dennis’ working residents are 55 or older. The jobs ↓
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.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 1,488 residents head out to work, 147 work right here, and 1,771 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.17 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.
What the 1,918 jobs in South Dennis are
1,918 jobs are based in South Dennis. Here is what they are, next to the jobs South Dennis’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in South Dennis, 2013 → 2023: 1,685 → 1,918. 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.
17% of working residents work in Dennis
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where South Dennis clocks in
16% of workers
9% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
Half of South Dennis 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 24% 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.
About 25 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 7.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of South Dennis workers work from home, vs 19% across Massachusetts. Their commute is the hallway.
South Dennis and the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Yarmouth (9%). Darker towns draw more of South Dennis’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 South Dennis
Commuter talk
Getting to work from South Dennis, 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.