Photo: Jessamyn West · CC BY-SA 2.5Orwell has 0.4 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Employers in Orwell report 226 jobs for 581 working residents. Orwell grades C− for jobs and income and B− for walkability. Only 5% work in Orwell; the top destination outside it is Middlebury (37%, 16 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Orwell apart
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Orwell
On income, poverty and job access, Orwell is better than 24% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Orwell’s grade up (10.8%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 9% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (5.5%) is left out: Orwell’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Orwell could be anywhere from D to B−.
Out of Orwell to work: where people go
Where Orwell clocks in
37% of workers
7% 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.
How many people are in Orwell by day
On a workday 550 residents head out to work, 31 work right here, and 195 people come in from elsewhere.
About 900 people are in Orwell on a workday afternoon, 28% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Goods, not services: 31% of the jobs in Orwell
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Orwell, 2013 → 2023: 161 → 226. 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 Orwell’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Orwell: about 27 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Orwell workers work from home, vs 17% across Vermont. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 563 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.
Orwell’s commute, mile by mile
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 Orwell, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Orwell is more walkable than 54% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 7.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, the same share as across Vermont, on an EPA index of 5.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 649 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). 3.1% of Orwell households have no vehicle (Vermont 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Orwell’s commuters take a bus or train.
Orwell is 3,079th of 4,866 U.S. towns of 900 to 1,700 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,077 | Steuben NY | 1,107 | $66K | 11.6% | 3.0% | 1% | C− |
| 3,078 | Nanticoke NY | 1,564 | $69K | 14.6% | 6.8% | 2% | C− |
| 3,079 | Orwell VT | 1,250 | $70K | 10.8% | 5.5% | 5% | C− |
| 3,080 | Fort Denaud FL | 1,639 | $56K | 7.7% | 6.5% | 1% | C− |
| 3,081 | Chenoweth OR | 1,445 | $63K | 10.9% | 16.1% | 1% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 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 Orwell, the top three, the last and three more from Vermont.
Around Orwell: the bordering towns
The biggest share goes to Shoreham (7%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Orwell workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orwell | – | C− | B− | 27 min | $70,417 |
| Shoreham | 7% | B− | B− | 26 min | $93,654 |
| Whiting | under 2% | — | — | 22 min | — |
| Benson | under 2% | — | — | 32 min | — |
| Sudbury | under 2% | — | — | 50 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Whiting, Benson and Sudbury: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Orwell’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 Orwell: questions
What is the median household income in Orwell?
$70,417 (±$22,458) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $81,203 across Vermont and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Orwell?
10.8%, against 10.1% across Vermont and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Orwell?
27 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Vermont and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Orwell work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Middlebury (37%, 16 mi), Shoreham (7%, 6 mi), Rutland (4%, 20 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Orwell walkable?
Orwell is more walkable than 54% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 5.0 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Orwell without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Orwell, from the people who make the trip.
More of Orwell
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.