Photo: Doug Kerr · CC BY-SA 2.0Brandon has lower unemployment (0.8%) than 96% of U.S. towns
Working from home is the commute for 10% of workers (Vermont 17%). Jobs and income earn Brandon C+; getting around on foot earns it B. About one in seven work in Brandon; the top destination outside it is Middlebury (19%, 14 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Brandon apart
Why Brandon gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Brandon is better than 41% of U.S. towns, #45 of 71 in Vermont. Unemployment holds Brandon’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 16% of U.S. towns).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Brandon could be anywhere from C to B.
A place that makes things: 41% of Brandon’s jobs are in goods
1,082 jobs are based in Brandon.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Brandon, 2013 → 2023: 1,121 → 1,082. 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 Brandon’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who leaves Brandon for work, and who comes in
On a workday 1,662 residents head out to work, 333 work right here, and 749 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,300 people are in Brandon on a workday afternoon, 22% fewer than live here.
0.54 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 towns that employ Brandon’s residents
Where Brandon clocks in
19% 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.
About 24 minutes each way for Brandon’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Brandon workers work from home, vs 17% across Vermont. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,716 commuters (the 10% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Brandon
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.
In Brandon, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Brandon is more walkable than 59% of U.S. towns, #51 of 71 in Vermont. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 7.2% across Vermont, on an EPA index of 6.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,904 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 20% 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 0.8 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 55% 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). 2.7% of Brandon households have no vehicle (Vermont 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Brandon’s commuters take a bus or train.
Brandon places 2,502nd of 4,112 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 2,900 to 5,600
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 334 | Jericho VT | 5,056 | $117K | 0.9% | 1.2% | 9% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 398 | Richmond VT | 4,103 | $108K | 4.2% | 1.0% | 9% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 466 | Charlotte VT | 3,846 | $144K | 3.7% | 1.1% | 10% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,500 | Plainwell MI | 3,722 | $67K | 10.4% | 6.7% | 6% | C+ |
| 2,501 | Bath PA | 2,903 | $72K | 20.1% | 5.1% | 4% | C+ |
| 2,502 | Brandon VT | 4,173 | $64K | 14.2% | 0.8% | 17% | C+ |
| 2,503 | Chandler IN | 3,960 | $75K | 12.2% | 6.1% | 3% | C+ |
| 2,504 | Ball LA | 3,793 | $80K | 10.9% | 5.6% | 3% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,112 | 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 Brandon, the top three, the last and three more from Vermont.
Work in the towns next to Brandon
The biggest share goes to Pittsford (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Brandon workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brandon | – | C+ | B | 24 min | $64,180 |
| Pittsford | 3% | C | C− | 25 min | $69,705 |
| Goshen | under 2% | — | — | 21 min | — |
| Leicester | 3% | C | C+ | 28 min | $70,417 |
| Chittenden | under 2% | B | C+ | 28 min | $106,250 |
| Sudbury | under 2% | — | — | 50 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Goshen and Sudbury: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Brandon’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 Brandon: questions
What is the median household income in Brandon?
$64,180 (±$12,058) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $81,203 across Vermont and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Brandon?
14.2%, against 10.1% across Vermont and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Brandon?
24 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Vermont and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Brandon work?
17% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Middlebury (19%, 14 mi), Rutland (13%, 14 mi), Rutland (4%, 13 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Brandon walkable?
Brandon is more walkable than 59% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 6.4 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Brandon without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Brandon, from the people who make the trip.
More of Brandon
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.