Photo: Rolf Müller (User:Rolfmueller) · CC BY-SA 3.0Most of Shaftsbury commutes out: there are 0.3 jobs for every working resident
The two grades for Shaftsbury are B− for jobs and income and B for walkability. Shaftsbury has 501 jobs, against 1,450 working residents. For 7% of workers, the job is at home, against 17% across Vermont.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Shaftsbury and work: the main findings
Much of Shaftsbury works one town over
47% of working residents work in a town that borders Shaftsbury: Bennington (42%) and Arlington (5%). Next door ↓
Shaftsbury makes and builds things
45% of the jobs based in Shaftsbury are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Shaftsbury residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 16%. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Where Shaftsbury’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Shaftsbury is better than 54% of U.S. towns, #31 of 71 in Vermont. Unemployment holds Shaftsbury’s grade up (2.4%, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 16% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Shaftsbury could be anywhere from C− to A−.
Shaftsbury works in goods: 45% of its jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Shaftsbury, 2014 → 2024: 524 → 501. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Shaftsbury’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A workday in Shaftsbury: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 1,343 residents head out to work, 107 work right here, and 394 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,600 people are in Shaftsbury on a workday afternoon, 27% 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 2024, primary jobs.
42% of working residents work in Bennington
Where Shaftsbury clocks in
42% of workers
8% of workers
5% 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.
Commuting from Shaftsbury: about 25 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Shaftsbury workers work from home, vs 17% across Vermont. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,463 commuters (the 7% 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.
How many miles Shaftsbury commutes
About 18% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
In Shaftsbury, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Shaftsbury is more walkable than 59% of U.S. towns, #53 of 71 in Vermont. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 11.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 7.2% across Vermont, on an EPA index of 4.9.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,577 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). 3.6% of Shaftsbury households have no vehicle (Vermont 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Shaftsbury’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 4,355 U.S. towns of 2,500 to 4,800, Shaftsbury comes 2,025th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 405 | Richmond VT | 4,103 | $108K | 4.2% | 1.0% | 10% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 477 | Charlotte VT | 3,846 | $144K | 3.7% | 1.1% | 10% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 648 | Norwich VT | 3,577 | $140K | 2.8% | 3.0% | 10% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,023 | Union Township OH | 3,533 | $74K | 11.0% | 2.4% | 7% | B− |
| 2,024 | Lincoln WI | 2,737 | $78K | 7.9% | 1.8% | 9% | B− |
| 2,025 | Shaftsbury VT | 3,558 | $86K | 9.6% | 2.4% | 7% | B− |
| 2,026 | Lexington WA | 4,413 | $101K | 3.5% | 11.8% | 1% | B− |
| 2,027 | Kewaskum WI | 4,561 | $94K | 10.8% | 6.0% | 9% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,355 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 19% | 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 Shaftsbury, the top three, the last and three more from Vermont.
Shaftsbury and its neighbors: 47% work next door
The biggest share goes to Bennington (42%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Shaftsbury workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shaftsbury | – | B− | B | 25 min | $86,071 |
| Arlington | 5% | C+ | B+ | 20 min | $102,308 |
| Bennington | 42% | C− | A | 17 min | $59,446 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Shaftsbury’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 2024, 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 Shaftsbury: questions
What is the median household income in Shaftsbury?
$86,071 (±$24,478) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $81,203 across Vermont and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Shaftsbury?
9.6%, against 10.1% across Vermont and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Shaftsbury?
25 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Vermont and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Shaftsbury work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Bennington (42%, 6 mi), Manchester (8%, 15 mi), Arlington (5%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Shaftsbury walkable?
Shaftsbury is more walkable than 59% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 4.9 out of 20, and 12% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Shaftsbury without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Shaftsbury, from the people who make the trip.
More of Shaftsbury
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.