Photo: Ascended Dreamer · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in St. Johnsbury trail those of 77% of U.S. towns
For jobs and income St. Johnsbury is better than 25% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 85% of U.S. towns (A). 16.8% of residents are in poverty; Vermont has 10.1%. About one in three work in St. Johnsbury; the top destination outside it is Lyndon (8%, 6 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in St. Johnsbury
What drives the Jobs & income grade in St. Johnsbury
Unemployment holds St. Johnsbury’s grade up (3.3%, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 21% of U.S. towns).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, St. Johnsbury could be anywhere from D to B−.
St. Johnsbury by day and by night
On a workday 1,806 residents head out to work, 1,100 work right here, and 3,221 people come in from elsewhere.
About 8,800 people are in St. Johnsbury on a workday afternoon, 19% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.49 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.
Commuting out of St. Johnsbury: the destinations
Where St. Johnsbury clocks in
8% of workers
4% 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 work there is in St. Johnsbury: 4,321 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in St. Johnsbury, 2013 → 2023: 4,945 → 4,321. 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 St. Johnsbury’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 20 minutes in St. Johnsbury
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of St. Johnsbury workers work from home, vs 17% across Vermont. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,966 commuters (the 18% 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.
Miles to work from St. Johnsbury
About 19% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: St. Johnsbury
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 4.2% 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 3,598 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 46% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 31% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 2.5 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 72% 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). 12.8% of St. Johnsbury households have no vehicle (Vermont 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of St. Johnsbury’s commuters take a bus or train.
St. Johnsbury next to U.S. towns of 5,100 to 9,900: 2,529th of 3,154 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 756 | Fairfax VT | 5,455 | $129K | 5.1% | 2.1% | 9% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,170 | Shelburne VT | 8,133 | $116K | 8.4% | 3.8% | 15% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,173 | Montpelier VT | 7,823 | $81K | 6.5% | 2.4% | 33% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,527 | Hillsboro TX | 9,036 | $56K | 20.0% | 4.2% | 20% | C |
| 2,528 | Waupaca WI | 6,352 | $53K | 11.5% | 5.6% | 32% | C |
| 2,529 | St. Johnsbury VT | 7,354 | $58K | 16.8% | 3.3% | 38% | C |
| 2,530 | Littleton NH | 6,003 | $57K | 14.3% | 3.5% | 40% | C |
| 2,531 | Fruitridge Pocket CA | 6,095 | $63K | 30.7% | 12.3% | 1% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 3,154 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 St. Johnsbury, the top three, the last and three more from Vermont.
Work next door: 11% of St. Johnsbury’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | St. Johnsbury workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Johnsbury | – | C | A | 20 min | $57,738 |
| Danville | 3% | B | C− | 33 min | $70,946 |
| Kirby | under 2% | — | — | 34 min | — |
| Lyndon | 8% | B− | A | 23 min | $68,786 |
| Waterford | under 2% | B− | C | 24 min | $109,375 |
| Barnet | under 2% | C | C− | 28 min | $67,386 |
Same-state neighbors only. Kirby: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Lyndon. Darker towns draw more of St. Johnsbury’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 St. Johnsbury: questions
What is the median household income in St. Johnsbury?
$57,738 (±$9,123) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $81,203 across Vermont and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in St. Johnsbury?
16.8%, against 10.1% across Vermont and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from St. Johnsbury?
20 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Vermont and 26 nationally. 18% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in St. Johnsbury work?
38% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lyndon (8%, 6 mi), Littleton (4%, 13 mi), Derby (3%, 35 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is St. Johnsbury walkable?
St. Johnsbury is more walkable than 85% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 11.0 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around St. Johnsbury without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 13% of households have no car. 31% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from St. Johnsbury, from the people who make the trip.
More of St. Johnsbury
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.