Parish of the Holy Trinity · Photo: Doug Kerr from Albany, NY, United States · CC BY-SA 2.0Swanton at work: jobs, income and the commute
Household incomes here are higher than in 58% of U.S. towns. For jobs and income Swanton is better than 39% of U.S. towns (C+); for walkability it is more walkable than 59% of U.S. towns (B). 8% of workers work from home (Vermont 17%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Why Swanton gets the Jobs & income grade it does
Household income holds Swanton’s grade up ($81,371, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 19% of U.S. towns). It also does well on unemployment.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Swanton could be anywhere from D to B+.
How a workday changes Swanton
On a workday 2,588 residents head out to work, 479 work right here, and 1,358 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,700 people are in Swanton on a workday afternoon, 18% fewer than live here.
0.60 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
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 St. Albans
Where Swanton clocks in
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.
Swanton works in goods: 34% of its jobs
1,837 jobs are based in Swanton.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Swanton, 2013 → 2023: 1,483 → 1,837. 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 Swanton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 23 minutes each way, about the VT average
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Swanton workers work from home, vs 17% across Vermont. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,115 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.
Swanton’s commute, mile by mile
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.
Swanton is a driving town
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.0% 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 3,390 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 41% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 23% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 45% 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). 4.9% of Swanton households have no vehicle (Vermont 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Swanton’s commuters take a bus or train.
Swanton next to U.S. towns of 4,800 to 9,300: 2,187th of 3,229 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 344 | Jericho VT | 5,056 | $117K | 0.9% | 1.2% | 9% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 754 | Fairfax VT | 5,455 | $129K | 5.1% | 2.1% | 9% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,181 | Shelburne VT | 8,133 | $116K | 8.4% | 3.8% | 15% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,185 | Ghent NY | 5,210 | $82K | 16.4% | 3.5% | 15% | C+ |
| 2,186 | New Paltz NY | 8,689 | $53K | 38.2% | 10.7% | 11% | C+ |
| 2,187 | Swanton VT | 6,894 | $81K | 13.0% | 3.8% | 16% | C+ |
| 2,188 | North Weeki Wachee FL | 8,979 | $65K | 11.7% | 4.0% | 3% | C+ |
| 2,189 | Big Bear Lake CA | 5,018 | $76K | 6.2% | 5.3% | 13% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,229 | 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 Swanton, the top three, the last and three more from Vermont.
Next door is work for 14% of Swanton
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Swanton workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Swanton | – | C+ | B | 23 min | $81,371 |
| Highgate | under 3% | B− | D | 31 min | $81,017 |
| Alburgh | under 3% | C− | B− | 34 min | $76,429 |
| North Hero | under 3% | — | — | 30 min | — |
| Fairfield | under 3% | B | C+ | 24 min | $87,019 |
| St. Albans | 14% | — | — | 27 min | — |
| Sheldon | under 3% | B+ | B | 25 min | $78,533 |
Same-state neighbors only. North Hero: not graded. St. Albans: the same community as the city of that name, graded once. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to St. Albans. Darker towns draw more of Swanton’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 Swanton: questions
What is the median household income in Swanton?
$81,371 (±$13,820) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $81,203 across Vermont and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Swanton?
13.0%, against 10.1% across Vermont and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Swanton?
23 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Vermont and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Swanton work?
16% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are St. Albans (14%, 7 mi), St. Albans (12%, 7 mi), Burlington (9%, 29 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Swanton walkable?
Swanton is more walkable than 59% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.0 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Swanton without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 23% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Swanton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Swanton
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.