Photo: The original uploader was Mickmaguire at English Wikipedia. · CC BY-SA 2.0Williamstown has lower unemployment (0.9%) than 95% of U.S. towns
About one in seven work in Williamstown; the top destination outside it is Barre (14%, 6 miles). Jobs and income earn Williamstown B+; getting around on foot earns it D. Measured by household income, Williamstown is ahead of 72% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Williamstown: the figures worth knowing
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Williamstown
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Williamstown is better than 69% of U.S. towns, #17 of 71 in Vermont. Unemployment holds Williamstown’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 23% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Williamstown could be anywhere from B− to A−.
The kinds of work in Williamstown
775 jobs are based in Williamstown.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Williamstown, 2013 → 2023: 472 → 775. 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 Williamstown’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How a workday changes Williamstown
On a workday 1,303 residents head out to work, 179 work right here, and 596 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,900 people are in Williamstown on a workday afternoon, 20% fewer than live here.
0.52 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.
Where Williamstown goes to work
Where Williamstown clocks in
13% of workers
10% 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.
Time on the road from Williamstown: about 23 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Williamstown workers work from home, vs 17% across Vermont. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,769 commuters (the 14% 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 Williamstown, by distance
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.
Driving is how Williamstown gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Williamstown is more walkable than 13% of U.S. towns, #69 of 71 in Vermont. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 2,055 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 0.5 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 50% 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). 7.2% of Williamstown households have no vehicle (Vermont 6.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Williamstown’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 4,355 U.S. towns of 2,500 to 4,800, Williamstown comes 1,302nd on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | 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% | 9% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 477 | Charlotte VT | 3,846 | $144K | 3.7% | 1.1% | 10% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 648 | Norwich VT | 3,577 | $140K | 2.8% | 3.0% | 12% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,300 | Richmond Township PA | 3,751 | $76K | 8.5% | 3.3% | 5% | B+ |
| 1,301 | Bart Township PA | 3,269 | $75K | 11.5% | 0.4% | 14% | B+ |
| 1,302 | Williamstown VT | 3,576 | $94K | 8.2% | 0.9% | 12% | B+ |
| 1,303 | Rhinebeck NY | 2,588 | $70K | 3.6% | 3.1% | 18% | B+ |
| 1,304 | Smith Township OH | 4,032 | $69K | 8.9% | 1.0% | 7% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,355 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Williamstown, the top three, the last and three more from Vermont.
Bordering towns draw 24% of Williamstown’s workers
The biggest share goes to Berlin (13%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Williamstown workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Williamstown | – | B+ | D | 23 min | $94,418 |
| Barre | 6% | — | — | 23 min | — |
| Northfield | 5% | C+ | A | 27 min | $71,768 |
| Washington | under 2% | B− | C+ | 31 min | $66,103 |
| Berlin | 13% | B | C+ | 21 min | $86,691 |
| Graniteville | under 2% | — | — | 24 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Barre: the same community as the city of that name, graded once. Graniteville: a Census-designated place inside a larger town, graded as part of it. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Williamstown’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 Williamstown: questions
What is the median household income in Williamstown?
$94,418 (±$10,435) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $81,203 across Vermont and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Williamstown?
8.2%, against 10.1% across Vermont and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Williamstown?
23 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Vermont and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Williamstown work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Barre (14%, 6 mi), Berlin (13%, 6 mi), Montpelier (10%, 11 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Williamstown walkable?
Williamstown is more walkable than 13% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 5.9 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Williamstown without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Williamstown, from the people who make the trip.
More of Williamstown
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.