Photo: Kenneth C. Zirkel · CC BY-SA 4.0With 0.5 jobs for every working resident, most of Rochester works elsewhere
Working from home is the commute for 41% of workers, where Vermont as a whole has 17%. Employers in Rochester report 253 jobs; 480 of its residents have a job. Jobs and income earn Rochester D; getting around on foot earns it A−.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The short version on getting to work from Rochester
How Rochester earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Rochester is better than 14% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Rochester’s grade up ($72,676, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 6% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (3.3%) is left out: Rochester’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, Rochester could be anywhere from D to C.
How long Rochester spends getting to work: about 27 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Rochester workers work from home, vs 17% across Vermont. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 434 commuters (the 41% 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.
A workday in Rochester: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 450 residents head out to work, 30 work right here, and 223 people come in from elsewhere.
About 850 people are in Rochester on a workday afternoon, 21% 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.
14% of working residents work in Bethel
Where Rochester clocks in
13% of workers
8% 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.
Jobs in Rochester: what the 253 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Rochester, 2013 → 2023: 241 → 253. 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 Rochester’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far it is to work from Rochester
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: Rochester
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Rochester is more walkable than 81% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 9.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 7.2% across Vermont, on an EPA index of 7.5.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 733 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 29% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 29% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 60% 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). 5.2% of Rochester households have no vehicle (Vermont 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Rochester’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Rochester is 2,383rd among 3,133 U.S. towns of 800 to 1,400
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 307 | Bolton VT | 1,277 | $111K | 2.9% | 1.1% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 405 | Cornwall VT | 1,290 | $115K | 0.8% | 7.4% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 523 | West Windsor VT | 1,355 | $109K | 3.7% | 3.4% | 5% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,381 | Freeman Township MI | 1,138 | $54K | 9.9% | 5.0% | 1% | D |
| 2,382 | Sheridan Township MI | 1,048 | $62K | 12.3% | 6.6% | 0% | D |
| 2,383 | Rochester VT | 1,073 | $73K | 18.5% | 3.3% | 6% | D |
| 2,384 | East Griffin GA | 1,174 | $46K | 32.4% | 9.1% | 1% | D |
| 2,385 | Yates Center KS | 1,308 | $43K | 8.8% | 2.6% | 21% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,133 | 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 Rochester, the top three, the last and three more from Vermont.
Next door is work for 14% of Rochester
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Rochester workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rochester | – | D | A− | 27 min | $72,676 |
| Pittsfield | under 3% | — | — | 19 min | — |
| Hancock | under 3% | — | — | 28 min | — |
| Chittenden | under 3% | B | C+ | 28 min | $106,250 |
| Braintree | under 3% | C | C | 26 min | $79,803 |
| Bethel | 14% | B− | C+ | 28 min | $75,822 |
| Goshen | under 3% | — | — | 21 min | — |
| Granville | under 3% | — | — | 34 min | — |
| Stockbridge | under 3% | — | — | 27 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Pittsfield, Hancock, Goshen, Granville and Stockbridge: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Bethel. Darker towns draw more of Rochester’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 Rochester: questions
What is the median household income in Rochester?
$72,676 (±$8,052) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $81,203 across Vermont and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Rochester?
18.5%, against 10.1% across Vermont and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Rochester?
27 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Vermont and 26 nationally. 41% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Rochester work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Bethel (14%, 7 mi), Randolph (13%, 11 mi), Royalton (8%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Rochester walkable?
Rochester is more walkable than 81% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.5 out of 20, and 9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Rochester without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 29% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Rochester, from the people who make the trip.
More of Rochester
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.