Photo: GearedBull · CC BY-SA 3.0Unemployment in Johnson (14.4%) is among the highest in the country
For jobs and income Johnson is better than 4% of U.S. towns (D−); for walkability it is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns (A). Measured by household income, Johnson is behind 89% of U.S. towns. Only 2% work in Johnson itself; outside it, Morristown draws the most (22%, 6 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Johnson
Where Johnson’s Jobs & income grade comes from
The poverty rate holds Johnson’s grade up (17.5%, U.S. 12.5%); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Johnson could be anywhere from D− to C−.
Who commutes out of Johnson, and who commutes in
On a workday 492 residents head out to work, 12 work right here, and 128 people come in from elsewhere.
About 960 people are in Johnson on a workday afternoon, 27% 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.
Out of Johnson to work: where people go
Where Johnson clocks in
22% of workers
12% of workers
10% 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 140 jobs based in Johnson
140 jobs are based in Johnson.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Johnson, 2013 → 2023: 249 → 140. 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 Johnson’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 28 minutes from Johnson
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Johnson workers work from home, vs 17% across Vermont. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 772 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.
How far Johnson’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: Johnson
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 17.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 7.2% across Vermont, on an EPA index of 8.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 893 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 52% 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). 9.2% of Johnson households have no vehicle (Vermont 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Johnson’s commuters take a bus or train.
Johnson and other U.S. towns of 900 to 1,800
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 531 | South Hero VT | 1,726 | $127K | 3.5% | 5.9% | 7% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 603 | Bolton VT | 1,277 | $111K | 2.9% | 1.1% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 779 | Cornwall VT | 1,290 | $115K | 0.8% | 7.4% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,012 | Seven Points TX | 1,530 | $40K | 26.6% | 10.0% | 3% | D− |
| 5,013 | Ames TX | 1,282 | $36K | 25.4% | 7.4% | <1% | D− |
| 5,014 | Johnson VT | 1,326 | $49K | 17.5% | 14.4% | 2% | D− |
| 5,015 | Teviston CA | 1,182 | $38K | 39.1% | 30.2% | 2% | D− |
| 5,016 | Town Creek AL | 1,067 | $43K | 27.9% | 7.7% | 2% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,400 | 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 Johnson, the top three, the last and three more from Vermont.
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 Johnson: questions
What is the median household income in Johnson?
$48,633 (±$10,310) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $81,203 across Vermont and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Johnson?
17.5%, against 10.1% across Vermont and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Johnson?
28 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Vermont and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Johnson work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Morristown (22%, 6 mi), Stowe (12%, 10 mi), Johnson (10%, 1 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Johnson walkable?
Johnson is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.0 out of 20, and 17% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Johnson without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Johnson, from the people who make the trip.
More of Johnson
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.