Photo: Beyond My Ken · CC BY-SA 4.0Brattleboro draws about half of Guilford’s working residents
Only 4% work in Guilford itself; outside it, Brattleboro draws the most (45%, 6 miles). Jobs and income earn Guilford C+; getting around on foot earns it C−. Commuters spend 25 minutes getting to work on average; the Vermont average is 24, the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Guilford: the figures worth knowing
Fewer jobs are based in Guilford than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Guilford fell from 592 in 2013 to 251 in 2023, −58%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
Guilford is a place people come home to
There are 251 jobs based in Guilford, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Guilford has about 1,400 people in it, 31% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
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 896 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Guilford’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Guilford is better than 40% of U.S. towns. Unemployment holds Guilford’s grade up (3.7%, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 18% of U.S. towns).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Guilford could be anywhere from C− to B+.
36% of the jobs in Guilford make or build things
251 jobs are based in Guilford.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Guilford, 2013 → 2023: 592 → 251. 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 Guilford’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who works in Guilford, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 861 residents head out to work, 35 work right here, and 216 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,400 people are in Guilford on a workday afternoon, 31% fewer than live here.
0.28 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.
Where Guilford goes to work
Where Guilford clocks in
45% of workers
8% 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.
Getting to work from Guilford takes about 25 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Guilford workers work from home, vs 17% across Vermont. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,020 commuters (the 17% 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.
How far Guilford goes to work
About 19% 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.
In Guilford, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Guilford is more walkable than 18% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Guilford 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 1,224 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 under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 1.1% of Guilford households have no vehicle (Vermont 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Guilford’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,500 to 2,800, Guilford ranks 2,689th of 5,148 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 688 | South Hero VT | 1,726 | $127K | 3.5% | 5.9% | 7% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 728 | East Montpelier VT | 2,594 | $93K | 2.1% | 2.6% | 16% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 753 | Dummerston VT | 1,859 | $102K | 4.5% | 1.6% | 5% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,687 | Patoka Township IN | 2,759 | $67K | 16.2% | 1.9% | 4% | C+ |
| 2,688 | Cornish ME | 1,602 | $69K | 6.3% | 3.8% | 9% | C+ |
| 2,689 | Guilford VT | 2,082 | $75K | 10.6% | 3.7% | 4% | C+ |
| 2,690 | Spring Valley MN | 2,431 | $66K | 9.3% | 3.9% | 20% | C+ |
| 2,691 | Cambria Township MI | 2,547 | $60K | 8.6% | 3.1% | 1% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,148 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Guilford, the top three, the last and three more from Vermont.
Work next door: 53% of Guilford’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Guilford workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guilford | – | C+ | C− | 25 min | $75,243 |
| Halifax | under 2% | — | — | 33 min | — |
| Vernon | 8% | B+ | B− | 20 min | $85,682 |
| Brattleboro | 45% | C− | A+ | 19 min | $58,241 |
Same-state neighbors only. Halifax: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Brattleboro. Darker towns draw more of Guilford’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 Guilford: questions
What is the median household income in Guilford?
$75,243 (±$6,268) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $81,203 across Vermont and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Guilford?
10.6%, against 10.1% across Vermont and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Guilford?
25 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Vermont and 26 nationally. 17% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Guilford work?
4% work in town.
Is Guilford walkable?
Guilford is more walkable than 18% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 5.2 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Guilford without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Guilford, from the people who make the trip.
More of Guilford
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.