Wholesale plastic pallets shipped to Massachusetts

Measured against the national total for each industry, Massachusetts is strongest in refrigerated warehousing, with 4.5% of the US jobs, and weakest in food manufacturing, with 1.6%. The state holds 1.09% of US warehousing jobs, so a share above that line means the industry is bigger here than the warehousing base alone suggests.

Essex holds 25.7% of the state's warehousing jobs, and the 3 counties shown together hold 61.2%. Counties with undisclosed data are left out, so these are floors, not complete counts.

Massachusetts stands 463 jobs behind Kansas and 871 ahead of Iowa. The median state has 23,211 warehousing jobs, so Massachusetts sits at 89 percent of that line.

• The average Massachusetts warehousing site employs 83 people against 81 nationally, so a typical site here is 1.0 times the size of the national one.
• Food manufacturing employs 1.40 people for every warehousing job in Massachusetts; across the whole country the figure is 0.93.
• Motor vehicle assembly and parts together account for 199 jobs in Massachusetts, 0.0% of the 809,845 nationwide.
• Pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing adds 10,179 jobs, 2.9% of the national 350,886, which makes it 11th of the 46 states that report.
• Cold storage runs 2,609 thousand cubic feet of gross refrigerated capacity for every thousand warehousing jobs here, against 2,098 thousand for the country as a whole.
• California has the most warehousing jobs of any state, 236,923, and Massachusetts has 8.7% of that.
• By number of warehousing establishments Massachusetts is 31st of fifty, and by average site size it is 20th, so its sites are larger than its site count alone would suggest.
• In food manufacturing Massachusetts ranks 25th with 29,036 jobs, 1.6% of the US total of 1,775,008.
• The 3 counties shown hold 12,658 of the state's 20,695 warehousing jobs, so 8,037 sit in other counties or in counties whose data is not disclosed.

Our sources show no figure for Massachusetts in motor vehicle assembly. Those gaps are in the data, which hides or omits small cells to protect privacy; they are not a claim that the industry is absent, and a missing row above means the same.

Loads for Massachusetts often share a corridor with the neighbours below. The ratio column divides the neighbour's warehousing jobs by Massachusetts's 20,695, so a ratio above 1 means a larger warehousing base across the line.

Lane pages for the neighbours: Connecticut, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

The table sets Massachusetts beside each state that borders it on the same five measures: establishments, jobs per site, food manufacturing jobs for each warehousing job, share of the US warehousing total, and sites for every thousand warehousing jobs. All of it is arithmetic on the BLS counts named in the sources.

• To reach the median state's 23,211 warehousing jobs, Massachusetts would need to add 2,516; to reach its 306 median sites it would need to add 58.
• Its 1.09% of US warehousing jobs compares with 1.64% of US food manufacturing jobs, a ratio of 1.50: food plants weigh more here than warehouses do.
• If each of the 248 sites took one standard 53 ft trailer of pallets a month, the state would see 2,976 trailers a year; that is an illustration of scale, not a forecast of demand.
• ZIP codes in Massachusetts fall in 010 to 027, so the first three digits of a ship-to are enough to place a dock inside the state.
• Refrigerated warehousing is the largest listed industry on this page at 3,299 jobs, 0.16 for every warehousing job and 13 for every warehousing site.
• Dividing the 29,036 food manufacturing jobs by the 248 warehousing sites gives 117.1; across the country the same division gives 76.0.
• The state's 1.09% of US warehousing jobs equals one job in every 92 nationwide.

A thought experiment with the same data: if all 248 Massachusetts sites were the size of the average US site, at 81.5 jobs, the state would have 20,205 warehousing jobs, which is 490 fewer than the 20,695 it has. Its sites are larger than the national average.

• Connecticut has 4,432 more warehousing jobs, 55 fewer sites and 19,365 fewer food manufacturing jobs than Massachusetts, so a Connecticut dock averages 130.2 jobs per site against 83.4 here, and 0.38 food jobs for each warehousing job against 1.40.
• New Hampshire has 17,412 fewer warehousing jobs, 152 fewer sites and 26,262 fewer food manufacturing jobs than Massachusetts, so a New Hampshire dock averages 34.2 jobs per site against 83.4 here, and 0.84 food jobs for each warehousing job against 1.40.
• New York has 34,676 more warehousing jobs, 585 more sites and 31,280 more food manufacturing jobs than Massachusetts, so a New York dock averages 66.5 jobs per site against 83.4 here, and 1.09 food jobs for each warehousing job against 1.40.
• Rhode Island has 15,543 fewer warehousing jobs, 208 fewer sites and 25,267 fewer food manufacturing jobs than Massachusetts, so a Rhode Island dock averages 128.8 jobs per site against 83.4 here, and 0.73 food jobs for each warehousing job against 1.40.
• Vermont has 19,638 fewer warehousing jobs, 206 fewer sites and 23,688 fewer food manufacturing jobs than Massachusetts, so a Vermont dock averages 25.2 jobs per site against 83.4 here, and 5.06 food jobs for each warehousing job against 1.40.

• Refrigerated warehousing employs 3,299 in Massachusetts, 4.5% of the 73,136 nationwide; for every warehousing job the state has 0.16 of these jobs.
• Food manufacturing employs 29,036 in Massachusetts, 1.6% of the 1,775,008 nationwide; for every warehousing job the state has 1.40 of these jobs.

• Essex is 1st of the counties shown with 5,323 warehousing jobs, which is 63.8 times the average Massachusetts site headcount of 83 and 0.28% of all US warehousing jobs.
• Worcester is 2nd of the counties shown with 4,052 warehousing jobs, which is 48.6 times the average Massachusetts site headcount of 83 and 0.21% of all US warehousing jobs.
• Bristol is 3rd of the counties shown with 3,283 warehousing jobs, which is 39.3 times the average Massachusetts site headcount of 83 and 0.17% of all US warehousing jobs.

• The dock address and ZIP; ZIPs in Massachusetts begin with 010 to 027.
• The footprint and the number of pallets, or the number of trailers.
• The three ratings the load needs, or a description of the load.
• Resin and colourant papers wanted, if the pallets touch food or pharma product.
• The month you want them, and whether a standing supply follows.
• Whether the dock has a loading dock or needs a liftgate trailer.
• Receiving hours and whether delivery needs an appointment.