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Work & commute in Steep Falls · A commuter town

99% of Steep Falls’s working residents leave town for work

Most working residents leave Steep Falls for work: only 1% work in town. The top destinations are Portland (20%), Scarborough (9%) and Westbrook (8%). Half commute less than 19 miles.

Work in town
1%
7 of 650 working residents
Typical commute
19 mi
half travel less, straight-line
Time each way
31 min
More than ME (25 min)
Work from home
4%
Less than ME (16%)
Jobs based here
43
A commuter town

What kind of work town is Steep Falls?

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

★ What stands out · The commute map

20% of working residents work in Portland

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

South Portland: 54 residents work here (8%)Westbrook: 55 residents work here (8%)Portland: 133 residents work here (20%)SacoBiddeford: 18 residents work here (3%)Auburn: 17 residents work here (3%)DenmarkFairfieldScarborough: 61 residents work here (9%)Windham: 20 residents work here (3%)Buxton: 22 residents work here (3%)HollisBaldwinLimingtonGorham: 41 residents work here (6%)Standish: 51 residents work here (8%)Steep FallsPortlandScarboroughWestbrookSouth PortlandStandishGorhamSteep Falls
1
Portland24 mi away
20%133
2
Scarborough20.7 mi away
9%61
3
Westbrook14.3 mi away
8%55
4
South Portland19.8 mi away
8%54
5
Standish1.9 mi away
8%51
6
Gorham9.8 mi away
6%41
7
Buxton11.3 mi away
3%22
8
Windham10.4 mi away
3%20
9
Biddeford26.8 mi away
3%18
10
Auburn27.2 mi away
3%17
Everywhere elseother towns and states
27%178
The top trips

Where Steep Falls clocks in

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

Time on the road

About 31 minutes each way, longer than most of Maine

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

A year of commuting
235 hours

Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.8 full days in the car, bus or train.

Average commute minutes, one way

Steep Falls31 min
Maine25 min
U.S.26 min
Working from home
4%

of Steep Falls workers work from home, vs 16% across Maine. Their commute is the hallway.

About 0 in 10
Day and night

Steep Falls quiets down on a workday

On a workday 643 residents head out to work, 7 work right here, and 36 people come in from elsewhere.

643live here, work elsewhere
7live and work here
36work here, live elsewhere
Night and day
At night1,900
Workday1,300
1,900live here− 640head out to work+ 36come in to work= 1,300on a workday

About 1,300 people are in Steep Falls on a workday afternoon, 33% fewer than live here.

Job hub or commuter town?
0.07jobs per workerCommuter townJob hub

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

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

How far

Half of Steep Falls 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 mi35 miPortland: 20% · 24 miScarborough: 9% · 20.7 miWestbrook: 8% · 14.3 miSouth Portland: 8% · 19.8 miStandish: 8% · 1.9 miGorham: 6% · 9.8 miBuxton: 3% · 11.3 miWindham: 3% · 10.4 miBiddeford: 3% · 26.8 miAuburn: 3% · 27.2 miPortland 20%Scarborough 9%Westbrook 8%Standish 8%Steep Falls
Steep FallsTop destinations (size = commuters)
15%Under 10 mi99 residents
68%10–24 mi443 residents
9%25–50 mi57 residents
8%Over 50 mi51 residents

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

The jobs

Steep Falls makes things: 35% of its jobs are in goods

43 jobs are based in Steep Falls. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Steep Falls’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Steep FallsJobs Steep Falls residents hold

What kind of work

Goods: factories, building, farms35%23%
Trade, transport & utilities0%20%
Services: health, schools, offices65%57%

What it pays

$1,250 a month or less9%11%
$1,251–$3,333 a month14%20%
Over $3,333 a month77%69%

Who does it

29 or younger9%20%
30 to 5465%55%
55 and older26%25%
−50%

Jobs based in Steep Falls, 2013 → 2023: 86 → 43. 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.

Next door

Steep Falls and the towns next door

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

10%+5–9%2–4%1%Under 1%

Average commute minutes, one way

Standish29 min
Steep Falls31 min
Baldwin32 min
Limington35 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 Steep Falls

Steep Falls home →

Commuter talk

Getting to work from Steep Falls, from the people who make the trip.

Town Square →
Weigh in
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Ask neighbors

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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