Photo: Doug Kerr · CC BY-SA 2.0With 0.1 jobs for every working resident, most of Pownal works elsewhere
Pownal has 166 jobs, against 1,152 working residents. For jobs and income Pownal is better than 29% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 24% of U.S. towns (C−). The trip to work takes 21 minutes on average, next to 24 for Vermont and 26 for the U.S.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Pownal stands out on work
42% of Pownal works in Bennington
484 working residents, 42%, have their main job in Bennington, 6.7 miles away across the town line. That’s 6 times as many as work in Pownal itself. The commute map ↓
Pownal is a place people come home to
There are 166 jobs based in Pownal, about one for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Pownal has about 2,200 people in it, 31% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
A lot of Pownal workers cross into Massachusetts
18% of Pownal workers work outside Vermont, the Census survey finds. In the commute data, Williamstown (9%) and North Adams (3%) are among the top workplaces. The commute map ↓
Most Pownal residents work close to home
60% 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 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
How Pownal earns its Jobs & income grade
The poverty rate holds Pownal’s grade up (8.6%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 16% of U.S. towns).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Pownal could be anywhere from D to B+.
42% of working residents work in Bennington
Where Pownal clocks in
42% of workers
9% of workers
4% 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 Pownal by day
On a workday 1,077 residents head out to work, 75 work right here, and 91 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,200 people are in Pownal on a workday afternoon, 31% 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.
Half of Pownal commutes less than 8 miles
About 17% 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.
What Pownal’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Pownal, 2013 → 2023: 177 → 166. 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 Pownal’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Pownal takes about 21 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Pownal workers work from home, vs 17% across Vermont. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,434 commuters (the 16% 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.
In Pownal, most people drive to work
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,715 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 30% 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). 0.8% of Pownal households have no vehicle (Vermont 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Pownal’s commuters take a bus or train.
Pownal places 3,085th of 4,316 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 2,300 to 4,300
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 367 | Richmond VT | 4,103 | $108K | 4.2% | 1.0% | 9% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 437 | Charlotte VT | 3,846 | $144K | 3.7% | 1.1% | 10% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 603 | Norwich VT | 3,577 | $140K | 2.8% | 3.0% | 12% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,083 | Wheeler Township MI | 2,569 | $61K | 12.3% | 4.9% | 12% | C |
| 3,084 | New Lebanon NY | 2,477 | $76K | 10.7% | 5.1% | 14% | C |
| 3,085 | Pownal VT | 3,219 | $64K | 8.6% | 5.2% | 7% | C |
| 3,086 | Taylor AL | 2,359 | $67K | 16.0% | 6.0% | 2% | C |
| 3,087 | Gosnell AR | 2,663 | $61K | 21.6% | 2.3% | 6% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 4,316 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Pownal, the top three, the last and three more from Vermont.
The towns next door employ 42% of Pownal
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Pownal workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pownal | – | C | C− | 21 min | $64,163 |
| Bennington | 42% | C− | A | 17 min | $59,446 |
| Stamford | under 2% | — | — | 31 min | — |
| Woodford | under 2% | — | — | 24 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Stamford and Woodford: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Bennington. Darker towns draw more of Pownal’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 Pownal: questions
What is the median household income in Pownal?
$64,163 (±$21,076) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $81,203 across Vermont and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Pownal?
8.6%, against 10.1% across Vermont and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Pownal?
21 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Vermont and 26 nationally. 16% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Pownal work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Bennington (42%, 7 mi), Williamstown (9%, 6 mi), Arlington (4%, 19 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Pownal walkable?
Pownal is more walkable than 24% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 5.8 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Pownal 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 Pownal, from the people who make the trip.
More of Pownal
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.