96% of West Chatham’s working residents leave town for work
Most working residents leave West Chatham for work: only 4% work in town. The top destinations are Chatham (25%), Harwich (10%) and Barnstable Town (9%). Half commute less than 14 miles.
What stands out about work in West Chatham
A big share show a job far from home
31% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Commutes from West Chatham are quick
The average trip to work takes 21 minutes, against 29 across Massachusetts. That’s about 61 hours a year less on the road than the typical Massachusetts worker. Time on the road ↓
West Chatham’s workforce skews older
39% of West Chatham’s 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; with 527 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Half of West Chatham commutes less than 14 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
About 31% 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 21 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 6.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of West Chatham workers work from home, vs 19% across Massachusetts. Their commute is the hallway.
What the 491 jobs in West Chatham are
491 jobs are based in West Chatham. Here is what they are, next to the jobs West Chatham’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in West Chatham, 2013 → 2023: 382 → 491. 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.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 507 residents head out to work, 20 work right here, and 471 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 (0.93 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.
25% of working residents work in Chatham
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where West Chatham clocks in
25% of workers
10% of workers
9% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
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 West Chatham
Commuter talk
Getting to work from West Chatham, 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.