Photo: Joe Mabel · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Cornwall top those of 91% of U.S. towns
Working from home is the commute for 32% of workers (Connecticut 16%). 8.2% of residents are in poverty, against 10.0% across Connecticut. Jobs and income earn Cornwall B; getting around on foot earns it A−.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Cornwall
How Cornwall earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Cornwall is better than 59% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Cornwall’s grade up ($128,864, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 17% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate.
Unemployment (6.5%) is left out: Cornwall’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Cornwall could be anywhere from C+ to B+.
About 30 minutes to work from Cornwall
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Cornwall workers work from home, vs 16% across Connecticut. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 510 commuters (the 32% 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.
Who leaves Cornwall for work, and who comes in
On a workday 446 residents head out to work, 70 work right here, and 228 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,400 people are in Cornwall on a workday afternoon, 14% fewer than live here.
0.58 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.
6% of working residents work in North Canaan
Where Cornwall clocks in
6% of workers
5% of workers
4% 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.
Cornwall is a services town
298 jobs are based in Cornwall.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Cornwall, 2013 → 2023: 286 → 298. 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 Cornwall’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many miles Cornwall commutes
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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Cornwall
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Cornwall is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 17.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 7.1% across Connecticut, on an EPA index of 6.7.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 754 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 under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 0.6% of Cornwall households have no vehicle (Connecticut 8.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 8% of Cornwall’s commuters take a bus or train.
Cornwall places 1,605th of 5,794 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,100
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 150 | Newtown CT | 1,980 | $165K | 2.0% | 3.3% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 172 | Bridgewater CT | 1,677 | $159K | 3.0% | 3.6% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 367 | Hartland CT | 1,928 | $113K | 4.7% | 2.4% | 6% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,603 | Grayson CA | 1,182 | $82K | 7.0% | 2.1% | 0% | B |
| 1,604 | Stanfield NC | 1,744 | $79K | 9.3% | 10.1% | 5% | B |
| 1,605 | Cornwall CT | 1,589 | $129K | 8.2% | 6.5% | 14% | B |
| 1,606 | Saluda Township IN | 1,383 | $78K | 3.0% | 7.0% | 1% | B |
| 1,607 | Hornby NY | 1,739 | $88K | 6.2% | 5.9% | 1% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 5,794 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | 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 Cornwall, the top three, the last and three more from Connecticut.
How Cornwall compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Sharon (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Cornwall workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cornwall | – | B | A− | 30 min | $128,864 |
| Sharon | 3% | C+ | B+ | 30 min | $100,518 |
| Goshen | under 3% | B+ | B | 42 min | $152,093 |
| Canaan | 3% | C | A− | 17 min | $89,632 |
| Kent | 3% | B | A− | 20 min | $96,064 |
| Warren | under 3% | B+ | B | 31 min | $134,583 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Cornwall’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 Cornwall: questions
What is the median household income in Cornwall?
$128,864 (±$34,096) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,781 across Connecticut and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Cornwall?
8.2%, against 10.0% across Connecticut and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Cornwall?
30 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Connecticut and 26 nationally. 32% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Cornwall work?
14% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are North Canaan (6%, 12 mi), Salisbury (5%, 11 mi), Torrington (4%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Cornwall walkable?
Cornwall is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 6.7 out of 20, and 18% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Cornwall without a car?
8% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Cornwall, from the people who make the trip.
More of Cornwall
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.