Brighton is a very small town located in the state of Vermont. With a population of 1,243 people and just one neighborhood, Brighton is the 137th largest community in Vermont. Brighton has an unusually large stock of pre-World War II architecture, making it one of the older and more historic towns.
Unlike some towns, Brighton isn’t mainly white- or blue-collar. Instead, the most prevalent occupations for people in Brighton are a mix of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Brighton is a town of service providers, professionals, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Brighton who work in food service (19.59%), office and administrative support (11.16%), and management occupations (10.48%).
And if you like science, one thing you'll find is that Brighton has lots of scientists living in town - whether they be life scientists, physical scientists (like astronomers), or social scientists (like geographers!). So, if you're scientific-minded, you might like it here too.
Telecommuters are a relatively large percentage of the workforce: 9.86% of people work from home. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce it is high relative to the nation. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes.
Another notable thing is that Brighton is a major vacation destination. Much of the town’s population is seasonal: many people own second homes and only live there part-time, during the vacation season. The effect on the local economy is that many of the businesses are dependent on tourist dollars, and may operate only during the high season. As the vacation season ends, Brighton’s population drops significantly, such that year-round residents will notice that the city is a much quieter place to live.
Overall, Brighton’s crime rate is one of the lowest in the nation, which makes a great place to live if safety is an important concern.
The town is relatively quiet, having a combination of lower population density and few of those groups of people who have a tendency to be noisy. For example, Brighton has relatively fewer families with younger children, and/or college students. Combined, this makes Brighton a pretty quiet place to live overall. If you like quiet, you will probably enjoy it here.
Being a small town, Brighton does not have a public transit system used by locals to get to and from work.
In terms of college education, Brighton is somewhat better educated than the 21.84% who have a 4-year degree or higher in the typical US community: 27.27% of adults 25 and older in the town have at least a bachelor's degree.
The per capita income in Brighton in 2022 was $35,689, which is lower middle income relative to Vermont, and upper middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $142,756 for a family of four. However, Brighton contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
The people who call Brighton home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Brighton residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Brighton include English, Irish, French, French Canadian, and Italian.
The most common language spoken in Brighton is English. Other important languages spoken here include Italian and Spanish.
Many things matter about a neighborhood, but the first thing most people notice is the way a neighborhood looks and its particular character. For example, one might notice whether the buildings all date from a certain time period or whether shop signs are in multiple languages. This particular neighborhood in Brighton, the neighborhood, has some outstanding things about the way it looks and its way of life that are worth highlighting.
Despite all of the residential real estate here in the neighborhood, NeighborhoodScout has discovered that much of it is vacant. In resort or second-home vacation areas, this naturally occurs because homes and apartments are seasonally occupied, and empty for a portion of the year. In non-vacation or resort areas, however, this can be an indicator of property abandonment or a weak real estate market. The vacancy rate here is 46.7%, which is higher than 98.4% of all U.S. neighborhoods.
In addition, unpopulated, and rural, the neighborhood is one of the least crowded neighborhoods in all of America. If you like open space, no traffic, and lots of room, this neighborhood may be just what you are looking for. According to NeighborhoodScout's leading research, this neighborhood is less densely populated than 94.3% of the neighborhoods in America.
If you're nearing retirement age, or in retirement, the is an excellent choice for you to consider for top-quality retirement living. This neighborhood is rated by NeighborhoodScout as among the top 5.2% of retiree-friendly neighborhoods in Vermont, combining peace and quiet, safety from crime, and offering diverse housing options from which retirees can choose. Maybe it's because of these amenities that a large proportion of the residents here are college educated seniors, mixed with other age groups. For these and other reasons, NeighborhoodScout identifies this neighborhood as a top-notch place to consider if you are thinking of or planning to retire in Vermont.
Did you know that the neighborhood has more French Canadian and French ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 10.3% of this neighborhood's residents have French Canadian ancestry and 14.1% have French ancestry.
How wealthy a neighborhood is, from very wealthy, to middle income, to low income is very formative with regard to the personality and character of a neighborhood. Equally important is the rate of people, particularly children, who live below the federal poverty line. In some wealthy gated communities, the areas immediately surrounding can have high rates of childhood poverty, which indicates other social issues. NeighborhoodScout's analysis reveals both aspects of income and poverty for this neighborhood.
The neighbors in the neighborhood in Brighton are lower-middle income, making it a below average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 77.8% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 11.0% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 51.6% of U.S. neighborhoods.
What we choose to do for a living reflects who we are. Each neighborhood has a different mix of occupations represented, and together these tell you about the neighborhood and help you understand if this neighborhood may fit your lifestyle.
In the neighborhood, 32.1% of the working population is employed in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is executive, management, and professional occupations, with 29.2% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations (22.3%), and 13.9% in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations.
The languages spoken by people in this neighborhood are diverse. These are tabulated as the languages people preferentially speak when they are at home with their families. The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 94.8% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Italian, Spanish and French.
Boston's Beacon Hill blue-blood streets, Brooklyn's Orthodox Jewish enclaves, Los Angeles' Persian neighborhoods. Each has its own culture derived primarily from the ancestries and culture of the residents who call these neighborhoods home. Likewise, each neighborhood in America has its own culture – some more unique than others – based on lifestyle, occupations, the types of households – and importantly – on the ethnicities and ancestries of the people who live in the neighborhood. Understanding where people came from, who their grandparents or great-grandparents were, can help you understand how a neighborhood is today.
In the neighborhood in Brighton, VT, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as English (19.8%). There are also a number of people of Irish ancestry (15.5%), and residents who report French roots (14.1%), and some of the residents are also of French Canadian ancestry (10.3%), along with some Italian ancestry residents (7.0%), among others.
Even if your neighborhood is walkable, you may still have to drive to your place of work. Some neighborhoods are located where many can get to work in just a few minutes, while others are located such that most residents have a long and arduous commute. The greatest number of commuters in neighborhood spend between 30 and 45 minutes commuting one-way to work (31.8% of working residents), which is at or a bit above the average length of a commute across all U.S. neighborhoods.
Here most residents (76.6%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also carpool with coworkers, friends, or neighbors to get to work (8.9%) . In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.