Work & commute · Cape Elizabeth

Work & commute in Cape Elizabeth, ME

Most working residents leave Cape Elizabeth for work: only 10% work in town. The top destinations are Portland (37%), South Portland (12%) and Scarborough (7%). Half commute less than 6 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

10%

367 of 3,807 working residents

Typical commute

6 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

21 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

32%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 3,440 Cape Elizabeth residents head out of town to work, 367 work right here, and 916 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Cape Elizabeth.

3,440live here, work elsewhere

367live and work here

916work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Cape Elizabeth goes to work

Portland4.6 mi away

37%1,399

South Portland6.1 mi away

12%441

Cape Elizabeth (in town)right here

10%367

Scarborough6.5 mi away

7%269

Westbrook12.2 mi away

5%191

Biddeford13 mi away

2%72

Falmouth12.5 mi away

2%71

Lewiston36.1 mi away

1%54

Augusta57.9 mi away

1%54

Freeport20.1 mi away

1%50

Everywhere elseother towns and states

22%839

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

How far

How far Cape Elizabeth commutes

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

71%

11%

71%Under 10 mi

11%10–24 mi

7%25–50 mi

11%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Cape Elizabeth is a commuter town

0.34jobs per working resident

A commuter town

0.34 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.

The jobs

What the jobs in Cape Elizabeth are

1,283 jobs are based in Cape Elizabeth. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Cape Elizabeth’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Cape Elizabeth

1,283 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)7%

Trade, transport & utilities6%

Services (health, schools, offices…)87%

$1,250 a month or less17%

$1,251–$3,333 a month24%

Over $3,333 a month60%

Jobs Cape Elizabeth residents hold

3,807 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)8%

Trade, transport & utilities15%

Services (health, schools, offices…)77%

$1,250 a month or less13%

$1,251–$3,333 a month16%

Over $3,333 a month71%

+15%

Jobs based in Cape Elizabeth, 2013 → 2023: 1,114 → 1,283. 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.