Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Households in Bennington earn less than those in 75% of U.S. towns
More than half stay in Bennington for work; outside it, Arlington is the main destination (5%, 12 miles). 13.2% of residents are in poverty, against 10.1% across Vermont. The two grades for Bennington are C− 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 Bennington, in brief
Jobs & income in Bennington: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Bennington is better than 22% of U.S. towns, #65 of 71 in Vermont. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Bennington’s grade.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Bennington could be anywhere from D to C+.
A commute of about 17 minutes in Bennington
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bennington workers work from home, vs 17% across Vermont. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,567 commuters (the 15% who work from home are left out). Across Vermont: 82% 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.
The daily commute in and out of Bennington
On a workday 2,806 residents head out to work, 3,556 work right here, and 5,068 people come in from elsewhere.
About 17,000 people are in Bennington on a workday afternoon, 15% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.36 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.
The towns that employ Bennington’s residents
Where Bennington clocks in
5% 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.
The kinds of work in Bennington
8,624 jobs are based in Bennington.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bennington, 2013 → 2023: 9,114 → 8,624. 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.
The distance from Bennington to work
About 18% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Bennington
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Bennington is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns, #22 of 71 in Vermont. Both inputs place Bennington near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 6,554 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 55% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 26% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 5.2 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 85% 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). 13.7% of Bennington households have no vehicle (Vermont 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Bennington’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Bennington ranks: 2,038th of 2,362 U.S. towns of 10,000 to 20,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 501 | Essex VT | 11,346 | $110K | 5.0% | 2.1% | 11% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 890 | Essex Junction VT | 10,921 | $89K | 9.5% | 1.9% | 11% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 999 | Colchester VT | 17,565 | $98K | 7.0% | 3.8% | 16% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,036 | Elizabethton TN | 14,350 | $47K | 18.8% | 5.5% | 21% | C− |
| 2,037 | Lake Township OH | 12,740 | $57K | 19.4% | 5.6% | 21% | C− |
| 2,038 | Bennington VT | 14,953 | $59K | 13.2% | 5.4% | 56% | C− |
| 2,039 | Edwards CO | 10,785 | $82K | 12.5% | 10.3% | 18% | C− |
| 2,040 | Batesville AR | 11,860 | $52K | 26.3% | 3.4% | 53% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,362 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Vermont.
Around Bennington: the bordering towns
The biggest share goes to Shaftsbury (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Bennington workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bennington | – | C− | A | 17 min | $59,446 |
| Pownal | under 2% | C | C− | 21 min | $64,163 |
| Woodford | under 2% | — | — | 24 min | — |
| Shaftsbury | 3% | B− | B | 25 min | $86,071 |
Same-state neighbors only. Woodford: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. 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?
$59,446 (±$7,440) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $81,203 across Vermont and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bennington?
13.2%, against 10.1% across Vermont and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bennington?
17 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Vermont and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bennington work?
56% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Arlington (5%, 12 mi), Manchester (4%, 21 mi), Shaftsbury (3%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Bennington walkable?
Bennington is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 10.4 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bennington without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 14% of households have no car. 26% 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.