Moxley Covered Bridge · Photo: JERRYE & ROY KLOTZ MD · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Chelsea are lower than in 65% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 14.3% of residents, next to 10.1% for Vermont as a whole. Chelsea grades D for jobs and income and B for walkability. Only 8% work in Chelsea; the top destination outside it is Lebanon (10%, 27 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Chelsea: the figures worth knowing
Chelsea’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Chelsea is Lebanon, NH, 27 miles away as the crow flies. 10% of working residents (52) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Chelsea workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 30 minutes each way, against 24 across Vermont. Over a year that’s about 230 hours of commuting, 46 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 512 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The four measures behind Chelsea’s grade
On income, poverty and job access, Chelsea is better than 14% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Chelsea’s grade up ($65,913, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 5% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (1.0%) is left out: Chelsea’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, Chelsea could be anywhere from D− to C+.
How many miles Chelsea commutes
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.
The daily trip from Chelsea: about 30 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Chelsea workers work from home, vs 17% across Vermont. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 411 commuters (the 13% 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.
Chelsea on a workday afternoon
On a workday 472 residents head out to work, 40 work right here, and 263 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,000 people are in Chelsea on a workday afternoon, 17% fewer than live here.
0.59 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 Chelsea’s residents
Where Chelsea clocks in
10% of workers
9% 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.
The 303 jobs based in Chelsea
303 jobs are based in Chelsea.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Chelsea, 2013 → 2023: 328 → 303. 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 Chelsea’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Chelsea is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Chelsea is more walkable than 55% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 3.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 7.2% across Vermont, on an EPA index of 6.5.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 470 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). 4.2% of Chelsea households have no vehicle (Vermont 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Chelsea’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Chelsea is 3,729th of 4,866 U.S. towns of 900 to 1,700
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 529 | Bolton VT | 1,277 | $111K | 2.9% | 1.1% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 679 | Cornwall VT | 1,290 | $115K | 0.8% | 7.4% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 873 | West Windsor VT | 1,355 | $109K | 3.7% | 3.4% | 5% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,727 | Woodland ME | 1,206 | $64K | 13.9% | 3.6% | 1% | D |
| 3,728 | Harrison Township PA | 1,003 | $61K | 11.6% | 4.3% | 9% | D |
| 3,729 | Chelsea VT | 1,252 | $66K | 14.3% | 1.0% | 8% | D |
| 3,730 | Meenon WI | 1,251 | $63K | 13.3% | 6.4% | 7% | D |
| 3,731 | Fayette IA | 1,185 | $48K | 25.7% | 5.4% | 13% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,866 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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 Chelsea, the top three, the last and three more from Vermont.
The towns around Chelsea
The biggest share goes to Tunbridge (4%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Chelsea workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chelsea | – | D | B | 30 min | $65,913 |
| Washington | under 3% | B− | C+ | 31 min | $66,103 |
| Tunbridge | 4% | C | C− | 31 min | $89,464 |
| Vershire | under 3% | — | — | 32 min | — |
| Brookfield | under 3% | B | D | 37 min | $98,500 |
Same-state neighbors only. Vershire: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Chelsea’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.
- Two counts of out-of-state work. The Census survey asks workers where they work: 4% of Chelsea workers work outside Vermont. The job records count 18% at employers in other states. The records use the address the employer reports and skip the self-employed, so the two can differ.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Chelsea: questions
What is the median household income in Chelsea?
$65,913 (±$13,458) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $81,203 across Vermont and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Chelsea?
14.3%, against 10.1% across Vermont and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Chelsea?
30 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Vermont and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Chelsea work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lebanon (10%, 27 mi), Hartford (9%, 23 mi), Hanover (8%, 23 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Chelsea walkable?
Chelsea is more walkable than 55% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 6.5 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Chelsea 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 Chelsea, from the people who make the trip.
More of Chelsea
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.