Work & commute · Wales

Work & commute in Wales, ME

Most working residents leave Wales for work: only 2% work in town. The top destinations are Lewiston (22%), Auburn (12%) and Portland (7%). Half commute less than 15 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

15 of 770 working residents

Typical commute

15 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

28 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

22%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 755 Wales residents head out of town to work, 15 work right here, and 191 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Wales.

755live here, work elsewhere

15live and work here

191work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Wales goes to work

Lewiston6.9 mi away

22%169

Auburn10.4 mi away

12%94

Portland36.3 mi away

7%54

Augusta20.6 mi away

7%53

Bath18.5 mi away

6%49

Sabattus4 mi away

4%33

Lisbon9.1 mi away

4%31

Brunswick18.1 mi away

4%27

South Portland37.6 mi away

2%15

Wales (in town)right here

2%15

Everywhere elseother towns and states

30%230

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

How far

How far Wales commutes

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

33%

42%

18%

33%Under 10 mi

42%10–24 mi

18%25–50 mi

7%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Wales is a commuter town

0.27jobs per working resident

A commuter town

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

The jobs

What the jobs in Wales are

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

Jobs based in Wales

206 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)33%

Trade, transport & utilities19%

Services (health, schools, offices…)47%

$1,250 a month or less17%

$1,251–$3,333 a month30%

Over $3,333 a month53%

Jobs Wales residents hold

770 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)22%

Trade, transport & utilities19%

Services (health, schools, offices…)59%

$1,250 a month or less12%

$1,251–$3,333 a month27%

Over $3,333 a month61%

−16%

Jobs based in Wales, 2013 → 2023: 244 → 206. 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.