Congregational Church of Ludlow · Photo: Tyler Goodrich · CC BY-SA 3.0There are 2.1 jobs in Ludlow for every working resident, and 1,548 people commute in
Employers in Ludlow report 1,947 jobs; 915 of its residents have a job. The two grades for Ludlow are C for jobs and income and A− for walkability. Household incomes here are lower than in 81% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Ludlow, in brief
Ludlow is where the jobs are
Ludlow has 1,947 jobs, 2.1 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 3,200 people are in town, 48% more than the 2,100 who live here. Day and night ↓
Many jobs in Ludlow pay little
33% of the jobs based in Ludlow pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. 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; with 915 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Inside Ludlow’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Ludlow is better than 30% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Ludlow’s grade up (5.6%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 14% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (6.8%) is left out: Ludlow’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, Ludlow could be anywhere from C− to B−.
Ludlow by day and by night
On a workday 516 residents head out to work and 399 work right here.
About 3,200 people are in Ludlow on a workday afternoon, 48% more than live here.
2.1 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.
The kinds of work in Ludlow
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ludlow, 2013 → 2023: 1,936 → 1,947. 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 Ludlow’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip into Ludlow
Where Ludlow clocks in
7% 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.
Ludlow’s commute takes about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ludlow workers work from home, vs 17% across Vermont. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 722 commuters (the 21% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Ludlow
About 16% 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.
Ludlow is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Ludlow is more walkable than 83% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 14.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 7.2% across Vermont, on an EPA index of 7.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 917 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 1.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 59% 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). 6.9% of Ludlow households have no vehicle (Vermont 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Ludlow’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ludlow is 3,385th of 5,404 U.S. towns of 1,500 to 2,900 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 733 | South Hero VT | 1,726 | $127K | 3.5% | 5.9% | 7% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 774 | East Montpelier VT | 2,594 | $93K | 2.1% | 2.6% | 16% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 801 | Dummerston VT | 1,859 | $102K | 4.5% | 1.6% | 5% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,383 | Girard Township MI | 1,768 | $78K | 15.0% | 2.1% | 1% | C |
| 3,384 | Orange Township OH | 2,580 | $91K | 19.7% | 4.9% | <1% | C |
| 3,385 | Ludlow VT | 2,134 | $55K | 5.6% | 6.8% | 44% | C |
| 3,386 | Orleans IN | 2,073 | $65K | 13.9% | 3.6% | 10% | C |
| 3,387 | Palmyra ME | 2,077 | $61K | 9.1% | 1.5% | 1% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 5,404 | 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 Ludlow, the top three, the last and three more from Vermont.
Ludlow and its neighbors
The biggest share goes to Cavendish (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Ludlow workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ludlow | – | C | A− | 20 min | $54,885 |
| Mount Holly | under 2% | C | C− | 27 min | $78,015 |
| Plymouth | under 2% | — | — | 23 min | — |
| Cavendish | 2% | B− | B− | 19 min | $89,063 |
| Chester | 2% | C+ | A− | 28 min | $62,125 |
| Andover | under 2% | — | — | 25 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Plymouth and Andover: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Ludlow’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 Ludlow: questions
What is the median household income in Ludlow?
$54,885 (±$14,422) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $81,203 across Vermont and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ludlow?
5.6%, against 10.1% across Vermont and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ludlow?
20 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Vermont and 26 nationally. 21% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ludlow work?
44% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Springfield (7%, 13 mi), Rutland (3%, 20 mi), Dover (3%, 31 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Ludlow walkable?
Ludlow is more walkable than 83% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.4 out of 20, and 14% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ludlow without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Ludlow, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ludlow
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.