Photo: John Phelan · CC BY 4.0Household incomes in Columbia top those of 91% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 6.1% of residents; Connecticut has 10.0%. For jobs and income Columbia is better than 73% of U.S. towns (B+); for walkability it is more walkable than 17% of U.S. towns (C−). Only 6% stay in Columbia for work; outside it, Hartford is the main destination (10%, 20 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Columbia
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Columbia
Household income holds Columbia’s grade up ($127,000, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down (6.0%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Columbia could be anywhere from B− to A+.
Time on the road from Columbia: about 32 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Columbia workers work from home, vs 16% across Connecticut. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,915 commuters (the 22% who work from home are left out). Across Connecticut: 82% drive alone, 4% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Columbia by day and by night
On a workday 2,241 residents head out to work, 151 work right here, and 920 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,000 people are in Columbia on a workday afternoon, 25% fewer than live here.
0.45 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.
Where the trip to work from Columbia ends
Where Columbia clocks in
10% of workers
10% of workers
7% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
What Columbia’s employers do
1,071 jobs are based in Columbia.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Columbia, 2013 → 2023: 1,090 → 1,071. 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.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Columbia’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute from Columbia, by distance
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Most of Columbia commutes by car
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,443 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.7 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 54% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 1.6% of Columbia households have no vehicle (Connecticut 8.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Columbia’s commuters take a bus or train.
Columbia next to U.S. towns of 3,700 to 7,200: 1,114th of 3,651 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 42 | Bethany CT | 5,339 | $166K | 2.3% | 1.1% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 149 | East Granby CT | 5,432 | $121K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 245 | Bolton CT | 4,875 | $126K | 7.2% | 1.3% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,112 | Treasure Island FL | 6,397 | $87K | 6.7% | 4.3% | 9% | B+ |
| 1,113 | Indian Head Park IL | 3,961 | $100K | 7.4% | 6.7% | <1% | B+ |
| 1,114 | Columbia CT | 5,352 | $127K | 6.1% | 6.0% | 6% | B+ |
| 1,115 | New London NH | 4,411 | $108K | 0.9% | 3.8% | 22% | B+ |
| 1,116 | Barnstead NH | 5,038 | $112K | 3.4% | 2.9% | 6% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,651 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Columbia, the top three, the last and three more from Connecticut.
Next door is work for 12% of Columbia
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Columbia workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Columbia | – | B+ | C− | 32 min | $127,000 |
| Lebanon | under 2% | A | D | 31 min | $109,135 |
| Coventry | under 2% | A | C− | 27 min | $108,213 |
| Andover | under 2% | A+ | C | 25 min | $134,632 |
| Hebron | 2% | A | C+ | 33 min | $142,500 |
| Willimantic | under 2% | — | — | 23 min | — |
| Windham | 10% | C− | A | 24 min | $55,736 |
Same-state neighbors only. Willimantic: a Census-designated place inside a larger town, graded as part of it. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Windham. Darker towns draw more of Columbia’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Columbia: questions
What is the median household income in Columbia?
$127,000 (±$29,672) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,781 across Connecticut and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Columbia?
6.1%, against 10.0% across Connecticut and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Columbia?
32 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Connecticut and 26 nationally. 22% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Columbia work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Hartford (10%, 20 mi), Windham (10%, 7 mi), Mansfield (7%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Columbia walkable?
Columbia is more walkable than 17% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 5.1 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Columbia without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Columbia, from the people who make the trip.
More of Columbia
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. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.