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. Much of the housing stock in Brighton was built prior to World War II, 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, Brighton is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Brighton is a town of service providers, sales and office workers, and professionals. There are especially a lot of people living in Brighton who work in food service (14.68%), office and administrative support (12.44%), and management occupations (11.69%).
One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 11.78% of the workforce. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce this is high compared to the rest of the county. 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 an extremely popular destination for tourists and seasonal residents. So much of the population is seasonal such that the town’s population swells significantly during the vacation season, and drops again when the season ends. Because of this, much of the local economy is centered around tourism; some businesses may be operated only during the high season. During the low season, year-round residents will notice that the city is a substantially 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.
It is a fairly quiet town because there are relatively few of those groups of people who have a tendency to be noisy. (Children, for example, often can't help themselves from being noisy, and being parents ourselves, we know!) Brighton has relatively few families with children living at home, and is quieter because of it. Renters and college students, for their own reasons, can also be noisy. Brighton has few renters and college students. But the biggest reason it is quieter in Brighton than in most places in America, is that there are just simply fewer people living here. If you think trees make good neighbors, Brighton may be for you.
One downside of living in Brighton, however, is that residents on average have to contend with a long commute, spending on average 31.46 minutes every day commuting to work.
Brighton is a small town, and as such doesn't have a public transit system that people use to get to and from their jobs every day.
In terms of college education, Brighton is substantially better educated than the typical community in the nation, which has 21.84% of the adults holding a bachelor's degree or graduate degree: 31.49% of adults in Brighton have a college degree.
The per capita income in Brighton in 2022 was $39,560, 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 $158,240 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, French, Irish, Italian, and German.
The most common language spoken in Brighton is English. Other important languages spoken here include Italian and Spanish.
The way a neighborhood looks and feels when you walk or drive around it, from its setting, its buildings, and its flavor, can make all the difference. This neighborhood has some really cool things about the way it looks and feels as revealed by NeighborhoodScout's exclusive research. This might include anything from the housing stock to the types of households living here to how people get around.
In a nation where 1 out of every 4 children lives in poverty, the neighborhood stands out as being ranked among the lowest 0.0% of neighborhoods affected by this global issue.
In addition, 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.
Vacant homes and apartments are a significant characteristic of this neighborhood. In fact, with 49.3% of the residential real estate vacant, the neighborhood claims the distinction of having a higher vacancy rate than 98.7% of the neighborhoods in America. This can either be because much of the property is seasonally occupied, like in many vacation areas, or that much of the real estate is more permanently abandoned.
In addition, uncrowded roads, rural America and space to be the individual you are. If you like these characteristics, this neighborhood may fit you. With just 22 residents per square mile, is less crowded than 94.3% of all U.S. neighborhoods.
Did you know that the neighborhood has more French and French Canadian ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 18.3% of this neighborhood's residents have French ancestry and 4.8% have French Canadian ancestry.
There are two complementary measures for understanding the income of a neighborhood's residents: the average and the extremes. While a neighborhood may be relatively wealthy overall, it is equally important to understand the rate of people - particularly children - who are living at or below the federal poverty line, which is extremely low income. Some neighborhoods with a lower average income may actually have a lower childhood poverty rate than another with a higher average income, and this helps us understand the conditions and character of a 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 76.7% of U.S. neighborhoods. In addition, 0.0% of the children seventeen and under living in this neighborhood are living below the federal poverty line, which is a lower rate of childhood poverty than is found in 100.0% of America'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, 29.1% 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 manufacturing and laborer occupations, with 28.1% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in executive, management, and professional occupations (27.4%), and 13.2% 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 95.4% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Italian and Spanish.
Culture is the shared learned behavior of peoples. Undeniably, different ethnicities and ancestries have different cultural traditions, and as a result, neighborhoods with concentrations of residents of one or another ethnicities or ancestries will express those cultures. It is what makes the North End in Boston so fun to visit for the Italian restaurants, bakeries, culture, and charm, and similarly, why people enjoy visiting Chinatown in San Francisco.
In the neighborhood in Brighton, VT, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as English (21.4%). There are also a number of people of French ancestry (18.3%), and residents who report Irish roots (15.0%), and some of the residents are also of Italian ancestry (5.7%), along with some German ancestry residents (5.2%), 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 (29.5% of working residents), which is at or a bit above the average length of a commute across all U.S. neighborhoods.
Here most residents (82.7%) 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.