Work & commute · Calais

Work & commute in Calais, ME

44% of Calais’s working residents work right in town. The top destinations are Baileyville (10%), Bangor (5%) and Ellsworth (3%). Half commute less than 7 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

44%

533 of 1,199 working residents

Typical commute

7 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

16 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 666 Calais residents head out of town to work, 533 work right here, and 1,141 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Calais.

666live here, work elsewhere

533live and work here

1,141work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Calais goes to work

Calais (in town)right here

44%533

Baileyville11.2 mi away

10%117

Bangor79.8 mi away

5%62

Ellsworth72.9 mi away

3%31

Machias32.8 mi away

3%30

Caribou122 mi away

2%24

Eastport19.1 mi away

2%20

Presque Isle113.1 mi away

2%20

Princeton15.1 mi away

2%19

Brewer78.2 mi away

1%16

Everywhere elseother towns and states

27%327

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

How far

How far Calais commutes

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

54%

35%

54%Under 10 mi

7%10–24 mi

4%25–50 mi

35%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Calais is balanced between jobs and homes

1.40jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (1.40 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Calais are

1,674 jobs are based in Calais. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Calais’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Calais

1,674 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)6%

Trade, transport & utilities28%

Services (health, schools, offices…)67%

$1,250 a month or less17%

$1,251–$3,333 a month39%

Over $3,333 a month44%

Jobs Calais residents hold

1,199 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)13%

Trade, transport & utilities25%

Services (health, schools, offices…)62%

$1,250 a month or less14%

$1,251–$3,333 a month37%

Over $3,333 a month48%

−16%

Jobs based in Calais, 2013 → 2023: 1,984 → 1,674. 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.