Photo: User:Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 4.0Family incomes in Willington top those of 77% of U.S. towns
About one in ten stay in Willington for work; outside it, Mansfield is the main destination (13%, 8 miles). Not counting college students, poverty touches 7.6% of residents, where Connecticut as a whole has 9.7%. Jobs and income earn Willington A−; getting around on foot earns it D.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Willington: the gist
Stores, warehouses and trucking
63% of the jobs in Willington are in trade, transport and utilities, against 18% of the jobs its residents hold. The jobs ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Willington
67% of Willington residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 43% of the jobs based in Willington pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 92% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Young people hold many of the jobs here
35% of the jobs based in Willington are held by workers 29 or younger, against 23% of Willington’s own working residents. 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 Willington’s Jobs & income grade
On family income, poverty and job access, Willington is better than 79% of U.S. towns, #85 of 155 in Connecticut. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Willington’s grade. It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
15% of Willington’s residents are college students, and off-campus students count in the Census poverty figures. Where students are 15% or more of the people the Census checks for poverty (15% here), the grade uses the rate without them: 7.6%, against 13.0% for all residents. Unemployment (1.8%) is left out here: students looking for part-time work count as unemployed. Income is ranked as median family income ($118,584), since student households pull the household median down ($91,114).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for family income and poverty, Willington could be anywhere from B− to A+.
Inside Willington’s 1,798 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Willington, 2013 → 2023: 1,482 → 1,798. 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 Willington’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who leaves Willington for work, and who comes in
On a workday 2,304 residents head out to work, 210 work right here, and 1,588 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,900 people are in Willington on a workday afternoon, 13% fewer than live here.
0.72 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 Willington’s working residents head each day
Where Willington clocks in
13% of workers
7% 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.
From Willington, about 26 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Willington workers work from home, vs 16% across Connecticut. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,682 commuters (the 10% 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.
Willington’s commute, mile by mile
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.
Willington is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Willington is more walkable than 8% of U.S. towns, #154 of 155 in Connecticut. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 2,995 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). 5.8% of Willington households have no vehicle (Connecticut 8.8%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Willington’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Willington is 858th among 3,561 U.S. towns of 3,900 to 7,600
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 34 | Bethany CT | 5,339 | $166K | 2.3% | 1.1% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 139 | East Granby CT | 5,432 | $121K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 233 | Bolton CT | 4,875 | $126K | 7.2% | 1.3% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 856 | Clinton Township IN | 4,890 | $92K | 3.7% | 3.6% | 11% | A− |
| 857 | Schuyler Falls NY | 4,955 | $104K | 6.3% | 0.7% | 3% | A− |
| 858 | Willington CT | 5,601 | $91K | 13.0% | 1.8% | 8% | A− |
| 859 | Lolo MT | 4,314 | $86K | 5.3% | 0.8% | 7% | A− |
| 860 | Rosedale WA | 4,208 | $159K | 2.5% | 6.5% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,561 | 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 Willington, the top three, the last and three more from Connecticut.
Next door is work for 19% of Willington
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Willington workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Willington | – | A− | D | 26 min | $91,114 |
| Tolland | 3% | A+ | C− | 32 min | $133,264 |
| Stafford | 3% | B | D | 26 min | $93,235 |
| Crystal Lake | under 3% | — | — | 39 min | — |
| Ellington | under 3% | A+ | C+ | 31 min | $129,913 |
| Ashford | under 3% | B+ | D | 34 min | $121,926 |
| Mansfield | 13% | A− | A | 21 min | $72,393 |
| Stafford Springs | under 3% | — | — | 26 min | — |
| Union | under 3% | — | — | 32 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Crystal Lake and Stafford Springs: Census-designated places inside larger towns, graded as part of them. Union: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Mansfield. Darker towns draw more of Willington’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.
- Students. 15% of residents are college students; the poverty input leaves off-campus students out (above).
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Willington: questions
What is the median household income in Willington?
$91,114 (±$11,616) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,781 across Connecticut and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Willington?
13.0% of residents live below the poverty line; leaving out college students, 7.6%. Connecticut: 10.0%.
How long is the commute from Willington?
26 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Connecticut and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Willington work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Mansfield (13%, 8 mi), Hartford (7%, 24 mi), Manchester (4%, 16 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Willington walkable?
Willington is more walkable than 8% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 5.2 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Willington without a car?
0% 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 Willington, from the people who make the trip.
More of Willington
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.