Photo: Mfwills · CC BY-SA 3.0With 0.3 jobs for every working resident, most of Berkshire works elsewhere
Only 4% work in Berkshire; the top destination outside it is Richford (12%, 7 miles). 194 jobs are based in Berkshire, and 701 of its residents work somewhere. Berkshire grades C− for jobs and income and C for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Berkshire at work: what stands out
Berkshire is a place people come home to
There are 194 jobs based in Berkshire, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Berkshire has about 1,100 people in it, 32% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Berkshire workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 32 minutes each way, against 24 across Vermont. Over a year that’s about 245 hours of commuting, 61 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 701 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Why Berkshire gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty and job access, Berkshire is better than 16% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Berkshire’s grade up ($71,406, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 3% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (0.3%) is left out: Berkshire’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Berkshire could be anywhere from D− to B−.
Berkshire quiets down on a workday
On a workday 671 residents head out to work, 30 work right here, and 164 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,100 people are in Berkshire on a workday afternoon, 32% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
A commute of about 32 minutes in Berkshire
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Berkshire workers work from home, vs 17% across Vermont. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 766 commuters (the 12% 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.
Commuting out of Berkshire: the destinations
Where Berkshire clocks in
12% of workers
11% 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.
In Berkshire, 64% of jobs are in factories, building or farming
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Berkshire, 2013 → 2023: 188 → 194. 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 Berkshire’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute from Berkshire, 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.
Most trips from Berkshire start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Berkshire is more walkable than 26% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 2.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 7.2% across Vermont, on an EPA index of 4.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 871 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 0.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 47% 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). 5.7% of Berkshire households have no vehicle (Vermont 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Berkshire’s commuters take a bus or train.
Berkshire is 4,635th of 6,161 U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,200 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 683 | South Hero VT | 1,726 | $127K | 3.5% | 5.9% | 7% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 750 | Dummerston VT | 1,859 | $102K | 4.5% | 1.6% | 5% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 769 | Bolton VT | 1,277 | $111K | 2.9% | 1.1% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,633 | Lawrence NY | 1,746 | $64K | 12.5% | 1.2% | 5% | C− |
| 4,634 | Gainesville NY | 1,972 | $56K | 11.3% | 3.3% | 11% | C− |
| 4,635 | Berkshire VT | 1,605 | $71K | 14.6% | 0.3% | 4% | C− |
| 4,636 | Locust Fork AL | 1,234 | $50K | 18.7% | 4.5% | 2% | C− |
| 4,637 | Bethany IL | 1,200 | $45K | 12.3% | 2.6% | 5% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 6,161 | 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 Berkshire, the top three, the last and three more from Vermont.
Work next door: 23% of Berkshire’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
The biggest share goes to Richford. Darker towns draw more of Berkshire’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 Berkshire: questions
What is the median household income in Berkshire?
$71,406 (±$21,049) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $81,203 across Vermont and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Berkshire?
14.6%, against 10.1% across Vermont and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Berkshire?
32 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Vermont and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Berkshire work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Richford (12%, 7 mi), Enosburgh (11%, 6 mi), St. Albans (10%, 23 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Berkshire walkable?
Berkshire is more walkable than 26% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 4.0 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Berkshire 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 Berkshire, from the people who make the trip.
More of Berkshire
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.