Photo: Doncram · CC BY-SA 3.0At 6.8%, unemployment in Torrington is higher than in 81% of U.S. towns
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 0.7 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 31.8 in Stamford. The two grades for Torrington are C+ for jobs and income and A− for walkability. About one in four stay in Torrington for work; outside it, Waterbury is the main destination (4%, 20 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Torrington, in a few figures
What’s behind Torrington’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Torrington is better than 36% of U.S. towns, #143 of 155 in Connecticut. Job access by car holds Torrington’s grade up (ahead of 68% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Torrington could be anywhere from C to B−.
Where Torrington goes to work
Where Torrington clocks in
4% of workers
4% of workers
3% 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.
How a workday changes Torrington
On a workday 13,273 residents head out to work, 4,405 work right here, and 8,651 people come in from elsewhere.
About 31,000 people are in Torrington on a workday afternoon, 13% fewer than live here.
0.74 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.
What the 13,056 jobs in Torrington are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Torrington, 2013 → 2023: 14,559 → 13,056. 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 Torrington’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 25 minutes from Torrington
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Torrington workers work from home, vs 16% across Connecticut. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 16,414 commuters (the 9% 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.
The commute from Torrington, 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.
Torrington is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Torrington is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns, #59 of 155 in Connecticut. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 3.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 7.1% across Connecticut.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 18,039 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 32% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 5% 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). 8.0% of Torrington households have no vehicle (Connecticut 8.8%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Torrington’s commuters take a bus or train.
Torrington next to U.S. towns of 25,000 to 48,000: 996th of 1,219 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 2 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 50 | Glastonbury CT | 35,503 | $157K | 3.8% | 2.9% | 15% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 56 | South Windsor CT | 27,036 | $145K | 4.9% | 2.4% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 66 | Farmington CT | 28,632 | $141K | 4.2% | 2.7% | 17% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 994 | Greenville TX | 37,069 | $63K | 11.5% | 5.7% | 28% | C+ |
| 995 | Channelview TX | 43,605 | $64K | 20.3% | 6.9% | 6% | C+ |
| 996 | Torrington CT | 35,796 | $71K | 13.7% | 6.8% | 25% | C+ |
| 997 | Union City GA | 29,910 | $50K | 14.2% | 5.8% | 5% | C+ |
| 998 | Bellview FL | 26,488 | $70K | 15.4% | 5.6% | 3% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,219 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Torrington, the top three, the last and three more from Connecticut.
Torrington and its neighbors
The biggest share goes to Winchester (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Torrington workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Torrington | – | C+ | A− | 25 min | $70,856 |
| Winchester | 3% | C+ | A | 26 min | $66,519 |
| Northwest Harwinton | under 2% | — | — | 31 min | — |
| Harwinton | under 2% | A | C | 26 min | $129,643 |
| New Hartford | under 2% | A | B | 30 min | $109,695 |
| Goshen | under 2% | B+ | B | 42 min | $152,093 |
| Litchfield | 3% | B+ | B+ | 25 min | $102,609 |
Same-state neighbors only. Northwest Harwinton: 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 Torrington’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 Torrington: questions
What is the median household income in Torrington?
$70,856 (±$4,937) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,781 across Connecticut and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Torrington?
13.7%, against 10.0% across Connecticut and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Torrington?
25 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Connecticut and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Torrington work?
25% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Waterbury (4%, 20 mi), Hartford (4%, 24 mi), New York City (3%, 91 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Torrington walkable?
Torrington is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.8 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Torrington without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. 5% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Torrington, from the people who make the trip.
More of Torrington
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.