West Rutland is a very small town located in the state of Vermont. With a population of 2,194 people and just one neighborhood, West Rutland is the 109th largest community in Vermont. West Rutland has a large stock of pre-World War II architecture, making it one of the older and more historic towns in the country.
Unlike some towns where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, West Rutland is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, West Rutland is a town of professionals, sales and office workers, and service providers. There are especially a lot of people living in West Rutland who work in office and administrative support (14.12%), management occupations (8.65%), and healthcare (7.33%).
Also of interest is that West Rutland has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.
A relatively large number of people in West Rutland telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 13.68% of the workforce works from home. While this may seem like a small number, as a fraction of the total workforce it ranks among the highest in the country. 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.
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, West Rutland has relatively fewer families with younger children, and/or college students. Combined, this makes West Rutland a pretty quiet place to live overall. If you like quiet, you will probably enjoy it here.
The overall education level of West Rutland citizens is substantially higher than the typical US community, as 33.08% of adults in West Rutland have at least a bachelor's degree, and the average American community has 21.84%.
The per capita income in West Rutland in 2022 was $36,826, which is lower middle income relative to Vermont, and middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $147,304 for a family of four. However, West Rutland contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
The people who call West Rutland home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of West Rutland residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in West Rutland include Polish, English, Irish, French, and Italian.
The most common language spoken in West Rutland is English. Other important languages spoken here include Polish and Spanish.
When you see a neighborhood for the first time, the most important thing is often the way it looks, like its homes and its setting. Some places look the same, but they only reveal their true character after living in them for a while because they contain a unique mix of occupational or cultural groups. This neighborhood is very unique in some important ways, according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive exploration and analysis.
Did you know that the neighborhood has more Polish and French ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 19.9% of this neighborhood's residents have Polish ancestry and 13.0% 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 West Rutland are lower-middle income, making it a below average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 77.9% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 11.3% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 53.1% of U.S. neighborhoods.
The old saying "you are what you eat" is true. But it is also true that you are what you do for a living. The types of occupations your neighbors have shape their character, and together as a group, their collective occupations shape the culture of a place.
In the neighborhood, 40.2% of the working population is employed in executive, management, and professional occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is manufacturing and laborer occupations, with 26.9% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations (19.8%), and 13.2% in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants.
The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 97.2% of households.
Culture is shared learned behavior. We learn it from our parents, their parents, our houses of worship, and much of our culture – our learned behavior – comes from our ancestors. That is why ancestry and ethnicity can be so interesting and important to understand: places with concentrations of people of one or more ancestries often express those shared learned behaviors and this gives each neighborhood its own culture. Even different neighborhoods in the same city can have drastically different cultures.
In the neighborhood in West Rutland, VT, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Polish (19.9%). There are also a number of people of English ancestry (18.2%), and residents who report Irish roots (17.7%), and some of the residents are also of French ancestry (13.0%), along with some Italian ancestry residents (10.3%), among others.
How you get to work – car, bus, train or other means – and how much of your day it takes to do so is a large quality of life and financial issue. Especially with gasoline prices rising and expected to continue doing so, the length and means of one's commute can be a financial burden. Some neighborhoods are physically located so that many residents have to drive in their own car, others are set up so many walk to work, or can take a train, bus, or bike. The greatest number of commuters in neighborhood spend between 15 and 30 minutes commuting one-way to work (55.1% of working residents), which is shorter than the time spent commuting to work for most Americans.
Here most residents (80.8%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.