Photo: Carol M. Highsmith · Public domainBurlington is a college town: 32% of residents are students
About two in five stay in Burlington for work; outside it, South Burlington is the main destination (13%, 5 miles). For jobs and income Burlington is better than 72% of U.S. towns (B+); for walkability it is among the most walkable U.S. towns (A+). Measured by family income, Burlington is ahead of 84% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Burlington, in brief
Burlington is where the jobs are
Burlington has 32,120 jobs, 1.9 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
A young workforce
32% of Burlington’s working residents are 29 or younger. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Burlington are quick
The average trip to work takes 19 minutes, against 24 across Vermont. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical Vermont worker. Time on the road ↓
Most jobs in Burlington pay over $40,000 a year
72% of the jobs based in Burlington pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), the top earnings band in the Census data. 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.
Why Burlington gets the Jobs & income grade it does
Family income holds Burlington’s grade up ($130,243, U.S. $99,999); the poverty rate pulls it down (10.7%, U.S. 11.9%). It also does well on job access by car.
Where students are 15% or more of the people the Census checks for poverty (19% here), the grade uses the rate without them: 10.7%, against 20.5% for all residents. Unemployment (4.3%) is left out here: students looking for part-time work count as unemployed. Income is ranked as median family income ($130,243), since student households pull the household median down ($71,109).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for family income and poverty, Burlington could be anywhere from B to A.
Who works in Burlington, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 9,655 residents head out to work, 7,474 work right here, and 24,646 people come in from elsewhere.
About 59,000 people are in Burlington on a workday afternoon, 34% more than live here.
1.9 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
Mostly health care, schools and offices in Burlington
32,120 jobs are based in Burlington.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Burlington, 2013 → 2023: 31,669 → 32,120. 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 Burlington’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Burlington: about 19 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Burlington workers work from home, vs 17% across Vermont. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 19,738 commuters (the 19% 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.
Where Burlington’s workers come from
Where Burlington clocks in
6% of workers
5% 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.
How far Burlington’s workers travel
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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Burlington
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Burlington is among the most walkable U.S. towns, #1 of 71 in Vermont. Both inputs place Burlington 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 24,362 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 72% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 10.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 93% 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). 13.2% of Burlington households have no vehicle (Vermont 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 7% of Burlington’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Burlington is 435th of 985 U.S. towns of 31,000 to 59,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 433 | Palos Township IL | 55,372 | $86K | 8.8% | 4.8% | 10% | B+ |
| 434 | Brighton CO | 45,395 | $108K | 9.4% | 4.8% | 14% | B+ |
| 435 | Burlington VT | 44,019 | $71K | 20.5% | 4.3% | 44% | B+ |
| 436 | Warwick NY | 31,685 | $119K | 7.9% | 3.8% | 21% | B+ |
| 437 | Charlottesville VA | 44,388 | $75K | 19.6% | 3.7% | 34% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 985 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Burlington, the top three, the last and three more from Vermont.
The towns next door employ 21% of Burlington
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Burlington workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burlington | – | B+ | A+ | 19 min | $71,109 |
| Colchester | 6% | B+ | A | 20 min | $97,891 |
| South Burlington | 13% | A− | A | 18 min | $106,667 |
| Winooski | 2% | B+ | A+ | 22 min | $79,522 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to South Burlington. Darker towns draw more of Burlington’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. 32% 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 Burlington: questions
What is the median household income in Burlington?
$71,109 (±$4,193) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $81,203 across Vermont and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Burlington?
20.5% of residents live below the poverty line; leaving out college students, 10.7%. Vermont: 10.1%.
How long is the commute from Burlington?
19 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Vermont and 26 nationally. 19% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Burlington work?
44% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are South Burlington (13%, 5 mi), Colchester (6%, 4 mi), Williston (5%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Burlington walkable?
Burlington is among the most walkable U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 13.9 out of 20, and 34% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Burlington without a car?
7% of commuters take transit and 13% of households have no car. 72% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Burlington, from the people who make the trip.
More of Burlington
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.