Photo: Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 3.0Hartford draws 7,851 commuters a day, with 2.0 jobs for every working resident
About one in four work in Hartford itself; outside it, Lebanon draws the most (20%, 7 miles). Hartford has 9,047 jobs, and 4,468 of its residents work somewhere. For jobs and income Hartford is better than 47% of U.S. towns (B−); for walkability it is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns (A).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Hartford: the gist
Many Hartford workers cross into New Hampshire
40% of Hartford workers work outside Vermont, most of them in New Hampshire, the Census survey finds. The commute map ↓
Hartford is where the jobs are
Hartford has 9,047 jobs, 2.0 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 15,000 people are in town, 42% more than the 11,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
Hartford draws workers from far and wide
The 9,047 jobs in Hartford are filled from a wide area. Hartford’s own residents hold 13% and the ten next-biggest home towns 22%; the other 65% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
A lot of Hartford works one town over
26% of working residents work in a town that borders Hartford: Lebanon (20%), Norwich (3%) and Woodstock (2%). Next door ↓
Most Hartford residents work close to home
62% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. How far ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Why Hartford gets the Jobs & income grade it does
All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Hartford’s grade. It also does well on unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Hartford could be anywhere from C to B+.
Where Hartford’s workforce comes from
Where Hartford clocks in
20% of workers
13% 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.
Hartford by day and by night
On a workday 3,272 residents head out to work and 1,196 work right here.
About 15,000 people are in Hartford on a workday afternoon, 42% more than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Where in the region Hartford works
About 15% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Services make up most of the work in Hartford
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Hartford, 2014 → 2024: 8,658 → 9,047. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Hartford’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 18 minutes from Hartford
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Hartford workers work from home, vs 17% across Vermont. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,839 commuters (the 14% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Hartford
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 5,620 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 40% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 25% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 4.5 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 82% 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). 6.4% of Hartford households have no vehicle (Vermont 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Hartford’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Hartford is 1,577th among 2,507 U.S. towns of 8,000 to 15,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 357 | Williston VT | 9,975 | $107K | 4.3% | 1.6% | 17% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 492 | Essex VT | 11,346 | $110K | 5.0% | 2.1% | 12% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 895 | Essex Junction VT | 10,921 | $89K | 9.5% | 1.9% | 11% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,575 | Springfield Township OH | 14,240 | $66K | 8.5% | 7.0% | 5% | B− |
| 1,576 | Woodhaven MI | 12,503 | $79K | 13.0% | 7.2% | 5% | B− |
| 1,577 | Hartford VT | 10,911 | $78K | 11.1% | 4.0% | 27% | B− |
| 1,578 | Portland TN | 13,658 | $73K | 11.2% | 4.9% | 16% | B− |
| 1,579 | Lexington Park MD | 13,252 | $95K | 13.8% | 4.0% | 5% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,507 | Roma TX | 11,543 | $25K | 37.1% | 12.4% | 19% | 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 Hartford, the top three, the last and three more from Vermont.
Hartford and its neighbors: 26% work next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Hartford workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hartford | – | B− | A | 18 min | $78,125 |
| Pomfret | under 1% | — | — | 24 min | — |
| Woodstock | 2% | C+ | A+ | 22 min | $120,938 |
| Hartland | 1% | C+ | C+ | 23 min | $86,136 |
| Norwich | 3% | A− | A− | 19 min | $140,313 |
Same-state neighbors only. Pomfret: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Lebanon. Darker towns draw more of Hartford’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 2024, 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 Hartford: questions
What is the median household income in Hartford?
$78,125 (±$6,517) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $81,203 across Vermont and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Hartford?
11.1%, against 10.1% across Vermont and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Hartford?
18 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Vermont and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Hartford work?
27% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lebanon (20%, 7 mi), Hanover (13%, 11 mi), Norwich (3%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Hartford walkable?
Hartford is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 9.2 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Hartford without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 25% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Hartford, from the people who make the trip.
More of Hartford
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.