Photo: Curtis B. Johnson · Public domainStrafford has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.2 for each
Household incomes here are higher than in 84% of U.S. towns. 89 jobs are based in Strafford for 405 working residents. For jobs and income Strafford is better than 61% of U.S. towns (B); for walkability it is more walkable than 27% of U.S. towns (C).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Strafford
The four measures behind Strafford’s grade
Household income holds Strafford’s grade up ($110,833, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 7% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate.
Unemployment (3.3%) is left out: Strafford’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, Strafford could be anywhere from C+ to B+.
How a workday changes Strafford
On a workday 396 residents head out to work, 9 work right here, and 80 people come in from elsewhere.
About 780 people are in Strafford on a workday afternoon, 29% 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.
13% of working residents work in Lebanon
Where Strafford clocks in
13% of workers
11% of workers
9% 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.
The kinds of work in Strafford
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Strafford, 2013 → 2023: 112 → 89. 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 Strafford’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting from Strafford: about 23 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Strafford workers work from home, vs 17% across Vermont. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 613 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.
The commute from Strafford, by distance
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.
Strafford is a driving town
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 1.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 7.2% across Vermont, on an EPA index of 5.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 731 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 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). 0.7% of Strafford households have no vehicle (Vermont 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Strafford’s commuters take a bus or train.
Strafford places 895th of 3,771 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 388 | Bolton VT | 1,277 | $111K | 2.9% | 1.1% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 505 | Cornwall VT | 1,290 | $115K | 0.8% | 7.4% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 654 | West Windsor VT | 1,355 | $109K | 3.7% | 3.4% | 5% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 893 | Amherst WI | 1,404 | $94K | 6.4% | 1.4% | 3% | B |
| 894 | Pleasant Township OH | 1,484 | $77K | 4.1% | 1.5% | 2% | B |
| 895 | Strafford VT | 1,092 | $111K | 5.2% | 3.3% | 2% | B |
| 896 | Rose Township OH | 1,497 | $89K | 8.3% | 2.9% | 2% | B |
| 897 | Poipu HI | 1,175 | $143K | 8.5% | 1.3% | 22% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 3,771 | 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 Strafford, the top three, the last and three more from Vermont.
Next door is work for 11% of Strafford
The biggest share goes to Royalton (7%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Strafford workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strafford | – | B | C | 23 min | $110,833 |
| Tunbridge | 4% | C | C− | 31 min | $89,464 |
| Sharon | under 2% | B+ | B | 26 min | $84,375 |
| Vershire | under 2% | — | — | 32 min | — |
| Thetford | under 2% | B | C | 23 min | $88,045 |
| West Fairlee | under 2% | — | — | 28 min | — |
| Royalton | 7% | B | A− | 20 min | $103,938 |
Same-state neighbors only. Vershire and West Fairlee: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Strafford’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 Strafford: questions
What is the median household income in Strafford?
$110,833 (±$18,827) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $81,203 across Vermont and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Strafford?
5.2%, against 10.1% across Vermont and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Strafford?
23 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Vermont and 26 nationally. 16% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Strafford work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lebanon (13%, 18 mi), Hartford (11%, 15 mi), Hanover (9%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Strafford walkable?
Strafford is more walkable than 27% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 5.2 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Strafford without a car?
<1% 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 Strafford, from the people who make the trip.
More of Strafford
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.