Photo: Joe Mabel · CC BY-SA 3.0At 2.6%, unemployment in Kent is lower than in 76% of U.S. towns
Household incomes here are higher than in 74% of U.S. towns. The two grades for Kent are B for jobs and income and A− for walkability. About one in three stay in Kent for work; outside it, New Milford is the main destination (6%, 9 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Kent, in brief
Commutes from Kent are quick
The average trip to work takes 20 minutes, against 27 across Connecticut. That’s about 54 hours a year less on the road than the typical Connecticut worker, and quicker than any town next door (26 to 40 minutes). Time on the road ↓
Kent’s workforce skews older
36% of Kent’s working residents are 55 or older. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
How Kent earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Kent is better than 62% of U.S. towns, #116 of 155 in Connecticut. Unemployment holds Kent’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 27% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Kent could be anywhere from C to A−.
From Kent, about 20 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Kent workers work from home, vs 16% across Connecticut. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,090 commuters (the 21% 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.
Mostly health care, schools and offices in Kent
1,182 jobs are based in Kent.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Kent, 2013 → 2023: 1,125 → 1,182. 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 Kent’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who works in Kent, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 765 residents head out to work, 398 work right here, and 784 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.02 per resident).
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 Kent ends
Where Kent clocks in
6% of workers
4% 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.
Half of Kent commutes less than 16 miles
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.
Kent is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Kent is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns, #34 of 155 in Connecticut. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 19.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 7.1% across Connecticut, on an EPA index of 7.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,388 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). 6.8% of Kent households have no vehicle (Connecticut 8.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Kent’s commuters take a bus or train.
Kent places 1,579th of 4,562 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 2,200 to 4,200
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 36 | Andover CT | 3,173 | $135K | 1.8% | 0.4% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 177 | Woodmont CT | 2,391 | $91K | 1.9% | 2.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 349 | Lyme CT | 2,424 | $135K | 2.9% | 2.9% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,577 | Sunapee NH | 3,442 | $101K | 12.4% | 0.0% | 12% | B |
| 1,578 | Mars Hill NC | 2,280 | $81K | 3.3% | 4.5% | 5% | B |
| 1,579 | Kent CT | 3,101 | $96K | 9.0% | 2.6% | 34% | B |
| 1,580 | Blue Hill Township MN | 2,625 | $108K | 6.7% | 3.2% | 1% | B |
| 1,581 | Patterson Township PA | 3,038 | $67K | 6.6% | 4.1% | 3% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 4,562 | 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 Kent, the top three, the last and three more from Connecticut.
Around Kent: the bordering towns
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Kent workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kent | – | B | A− | 20 min | $96,064 |
| Warren | under 2% | B+ | B | 31 min | $134,583 |
| New Milford | 6% | B | B− | 30 min | $106,411 |
| Sherman | under 2% | A− | C | 40 min | $116,000 |
| Cornwall Bridge | under 2% | — | — | 35 min | — |
| New Preston | under 2% | — | — | 29 min | — |
| Washington | 2% | B | A− | 26 min | $101,549 |
| Cornwall | under 2% | B | A− | 30 min | $128,864 |
| Sharon | under 2% | C+ | B+ | 30 min | $100,518 |
Same-state neighbors only. Cornwall Bridge and New Preston: Census-designated places inside larger towns, graded as part of them. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to New Milford. Darker towns draw more of Kent’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 Kent: questions
What is the median household income in Kent?
$96,064 (±$16,054) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,781 across Connecticut and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Kent?
9.0%, against 10.0% across Connecticut and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Kent?
20 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Connecticut and 26 nationally. 22% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Kent work?
34% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are New Milford (6%, 9 mi), Danbury (4%, 23 mi), New York City (4%, 78 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Kent walkable?
Kent is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 20% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Kent without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Kent, from the people who make the trip.
More of Kent
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.