Photo: Doug Kerr · CC BY-SA 2.0Household incomes in Salisbury are higher than in 90% of U.S. towns
Working from home is the commute for 28% of workers, where Connecticut as a whole has 16%. Poverty touches 4.2% of residents, next to 10.0% for Connecticut as a whole. The two grades for Salisbury are B− for jobs and income and A− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Salisbury, in brief
Home offices are common in Salisbury
28% of Salisbury workers work from home, against 16% across Connecticut. Time on the road ↓
Commutes from Salisbury 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. Time on the road ↓
Nearly all the work in Salisbury is services
89% of the jobs based here are in services, such as health care, schools and offices. Only 4% are in factories, building or farms. 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.
Inside Salisbury’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Salisbury is better than 54% of U.S. towns, #127 of 155 in Connecticut. Household income holds Salisbury’s grade up ($124,256, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 14% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Salisbury could be anywhere from C to A.
From Salisbury, about 20 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Salisbury workers work from home, vs 16% across Connecticut. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,427 commuters (the 28% 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.
Health, schools and offices: most of the jobs in Salisbury
1,775 jobs are based in Salisbury.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Salisbury, 2013 → 2023: 1,770 → 1,775. 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 Salisbury’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 895 residents head out to work, 511 work right here, and 1,264 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 (1.26 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 Salisbury goes to work
Where Salisbury clocks in
4% 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.
The distance from Salisbury to work
About 22% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
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.
Salisbury is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Salisbury is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns, #48 of 155 in Connecticut. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 18.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 7.1% across Connecticut, on an EPA index of 6.6.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,982 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). 5.6% of Salisbury households have no vehicle (Connecticut 8.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 4% of Salisbury’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Salisbury ranks: 1,965th of 4,039 U.S. towns of 3,000 to 5,800
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 35 | Bethany CT | 5,339 | $166K | 2.3% | 1.1% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 50 | Andover CT | 3,173 | $135K | 1.8% | 0.4% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 140 | East Granby CT | 5,432 | $121K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,963 | Tipton IA | 3,060 | $61K | 12.3% | 1.0% | 27% | B− |
| 1,964 | West Point NE | 3,411 | $66K | 7.4% | 0.8% | 39% | B− |
| 1,965 | Salisbury CT | 4,290 | $124K | 4.2% | 6.8% | 36% | B− |
| 1,966 | Allenstown NH | 4,882 | $73K | 11.9% | 2.7% | 4% | B− |
| 1,967 | Kiskiminetas Township PA | 4,522 | $65K | 10.4% | 2.1% | 8% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,039 | 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 Salisbury, the top three, the last and three more from Connecticut.
Salisbury and its neighbors: 15% work next door
The biggest share goes to North Canaan (4%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Salisbury workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salisbury | – | B− | A− | 20 min | $124,256 |
| Canaan | 2% | C | A− | 17 min | $89,632 |
| North Canaan | 4% | C− | A− | 22 min | $71,976 |
| Falls Village | under 2% | — | — | 15 min | — |
| Sharon | 4% | C+ | B+ | 30 min | $100,518 |
Same-state neighbors only. Falls Village: a Census-designated place inside a larger town, graded as part of it. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Salisbury’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 Salisbury: questions
What is the median household income in Salisbury?
$124,256 (±$25,966) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,781 across Connecticut and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Salisbury?
4.2%, against 10.0% across Connecticut and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Salisbury?
20 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Connecticut and 26 nationally. 28% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Salisbury work?
36% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Sharon (4%, 9 mi), North Canaan (4%, 7 mi), New York City (4%, 95 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Salisbury walkable?
Salisbury is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 6.6 out of 20, and 19% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Salisbury without a car?
4% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Salisbury, from the people who make the trip.
More of Salisbury
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.