Bennington Village Historic District · Photo: User:Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in Bennington top those of 61% of U.S. towns
The two grades for Bennington are B for jobs and income and C for walkability. Poverty touches 4.0% of residents, where New Hampshire as a whole has 7.2%. Only 4% stay in Bennington for work; outside it, Peterborough is the main destination (10%, 9 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Bennington in brief
Bennington makes and builds things
51% of the jobs based in Bennington are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Bennington residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 21%. The jobs ↓
Many jobs in Bennington pay little
34% of the jobs based in Bennington pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. The jobs ↓
Bennington workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 37 minutes each way, against 27 across New Hampshire. Over a year that’s about 284 hours of commuting, 77 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
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; with 699 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How Bennington earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Bennington is better than 64% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Bennington’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 30% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (5.8%) is left out: Bennington’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, Bennington could be anywhere from B− to B+.
Bennington works in goods: 51% of its jobs
426 jobs are based in Bennington.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bennington, 2013 → 2023: 368 → 426. 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 Bennington’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Bennington’s commute takes about 37 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bennington workers work from home, vs 17% across New Hampshire. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 616 commuters (the 15% who work from home are left out). Across New Hampshire: 87% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
A workday in Bennington: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 674 residents head out to work, 25 work right here, and 401 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,200 people are in Bennington on a workday afternoon, 18% fewer than live here.
0.61 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.
The places Bennington commutes to
Where Bennington clocks in
10% of workers
8% of workers
8% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Bennington
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.
Driving is how Bennington gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Bennington is more walkable than 26% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 2.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.6% across New Hampshire, on an EPA index of 4.8.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 722 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). 4.2% of Bennington households have no vehicle (New Hampshire 4.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Bennington’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,000, Bennington ranks 1,219th of 5,397 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 147 | Newfields NH | 1,775 | $198K | 2.4% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 366 | Madbury NH | 1,927 | $148K | 4.9% | 2.1% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 641 | Mason NH | 1,460 | $111K | 4.7% | 2.7% | 7% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,217 | Sylvan Springs AL | 1,600 | $82K | 10.7% | 3.5% | 2% | B |
| 1,218 | Mona UT | 1,964 | $115K | 5.7% | 1.0% | 3% | B |
| 1,219 | Bennington NH | 1,518 | $84K | 4.0% | 5.8% | 4% | B |
| 1,220 | Preble NY | 1,305 | $82K | 5.4% | 1.1% | 4% | B |
| 1,221 | Jefferson Township OH | 1,562 | $81K | 5.6% | 1.3% | 1% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 5,397 | 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 Bennington, the top three, the last and three more from New Hampshire.
How Bennington compares with the towns next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Bennington workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bennington | – | B | C | 37 min | $83,875 |
| Antrim | under 3% | B | C+ | 32 min | $86,648 |
| Francestown | under 3% | B | D | 42 min | $104,063 |
| Hancock | under 3% | B+ | C+ | 33 min | $95,208 |
| Deering | under 3% | C+ | C+ | 40 min | $101,250 |
| Greenfield | under 3% | B+ | C− | 36 min | $103,603 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Bennington’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 Bennington: questions
What is the median household income in Bennington?
$83,875 (±$6,880) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,031 across New Hampshire and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bennington?
4.0%, against 7.2% across New Hampshire and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bennington?
37 minutes each way on average, against 27 across New Hampshire and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bennington work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Peterborough (10%, 9 mi), Manchester (8%, 23 mi), Concord (8%, 23 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Bennington walkable?
Bennington is more walkable than 26% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 4.8 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bennington without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Bennington, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bennington
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.