Chaffee-Moloney Houses · Photo: Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Rutland trail those of 77% of U.S. towns
8% of workers work from home, where Vermont as a whole has 17%. Below the poverty line: 15.3% of residents; Vermont has 10.1%. The two grades for Rutland are C for jobs and income and A for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Rutland
Commutes from Rutland are quick
The average trip to work takes 16 minutes, against 24 across Vermont. That’s about 61 hours a year less on the road than the typical Vermont worker. Time on the road ↓
Rutland gains people on a workday
About 19,000 people are in Rutland on a workday afternoon, 23% more than the 15,000 who live here: 8,000 come in to work and 4,500 head out. Day and night ↓
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.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Rutland
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Rutland is better than 28% of U.S. towns, #61 of 71 in Vermont. Unemployment holds Rutland’s grade up (4.4%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($57,675, U.S. $80,734).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Rutland could be anywhere from D to B−.
About 16 minutes each way, quicker than most of Vermont
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Rutland workers work from home, vs 17% across Vermont. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 6,599 commuters (the 8% 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.
The daily commute in and out of Rutland
On a workday 4,532 residents head out to work, 3,166 work right here, and 8,041 people come in from elsewhere.
About 19,000 people are in Rutland on a workday afternoon, 23% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.46 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
11% of working residents work in Rutland
Where Rutland clocks in
5% 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.
What the 11,207 jobs in Rutland are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Rutland, 2013 → 2023: 12,282 → 11,207. 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 Rutland’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The distance from Rutland to work
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.
Rutland is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Rutland is more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns, #13 of 71 in Vermont. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 5.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 7.2% across Vermont.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 7,180 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 94% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 66% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 4.6 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 83% 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). 12.3% of Rutland households have no vehicle (Vermont 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Rutland’s commuters take a bus or train.
Rutland next to U.S. towns of 11,000 to 21,000: 1,716th of 2,109 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 459 | Essex VT | 11,346 | $110K | 5.0% | 2.1% | 11% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 915 | Colchester VT | 17,565 | $98K | 7.0% | 3.8% | 16% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,714 | Front Royal VA | 15,722 | $65K | 14.3% | 5.0% | 19% | C |
| 1,715 | Whitehall OH | 19,805 | $52K | 16.4% | 8.8% | 5% | C |
| 1,716 | Rutland VT | 15,363 | $58K | 15.3% | 4.4% | 41% | C |
| 1,717 | Jacksonville IL | 17,752 | $65K | 18.5% | 5.1% | 41% | C |
| 1,718 | Farmington MO | 19,226 | $54K | 15.9% | 4.1% | 35% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 1,823 | Bennington VT | 14,953 | $59K | 13.2% | 5.4% | 56% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,109 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Rutland, 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 Rutland: questions
What is the median household income in Rutland?
$57,675 (±$8,240) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $81,203 across Vermont and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Rutland?
15.3%, against 10.1% across Vermont and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Rutland?
16 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Vermont and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Rutland work?
41% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Rutland (11%, 3 mi), Killington (5%, 10 mi), Clarendon (3%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Rutland walkable?
Rutland is more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 14.2 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Rutland without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. 66% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Rutland, from the people who make the trip.
More of Rutland
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.