Work & commute · Portsmouth

Work & commute in Portsmouth, RI

Most working residents leave Portsmouth for work: only 16% work in town. The top destinations are Middletown (16%), Newport (13%) and Providence (8%). Half commute less than 10 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

16%

1,266 of 7,724 working residents

Typical commute

10 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

23 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

16%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 6,458 Portsmouth residents head out of town to work, 1,266 work right here, and 4,397 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Portsmouth.

6,458live here, work elsewhere

1,266live and work here

4,397work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Portsmouth goes to work

Middletown8.2 mi away

16%1,271

Portsmouth (in town)right here

16%1,266

Newport10.2 mi away

13%1,017

Providence13.9 mi away

8%629

Warwick6.7 mi away

4%273

Bristol4.3 mi away

4%273

Fall River, MA13.7 mi away

3%221

East Providence11.7 mi away

3%196

Boston, MA51.1 mi away

2%167

North Kingstown7.4 mi away

2%156

Everywhere elseother towns and states

29%2,255

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

How far

How far Portsmouth commutes

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

52%

34%

52%Under 10 mi

34%10–24 mi

6%25–50 mi

8%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Portsmouth is a commuter town

0.73jobs per working resident

A commuter town

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

The jobs

What the jobs in Portsmouth are

5,663 jobs are based in Portsmouth. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Portsmouth’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Portsmouth

5,663 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)35%

Trade, transport & utilities13%

Services (health, schools, offices…)52%

$1,250 a month or less13%

$1,251–$3,333 a month21%

Over $3,333 a month67%

Jobs Portsmouth residents hold

7,724 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)13%

Trade, transport & utilities16%

Services (health, schools, offices…)71%

$1,250 a month or less13%

$1,251–$3,333 a month21%

Over $3,333 a month66%

+6%

Jobs based in Portsmouth, 2013 → 2023: 5,328 → 5,663. 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.