By james art 
Vermont residents, who work mainly from home, earned 28% more than the average staff in the state in 2023, according to data from the US Counting Bureau, published in December.
Remote workers report an average income of about $ 65,000 a year, well above the $ 51,000 median for all workers at 16 years of age, according to a study by the US Bureau, which surveyed people from approximately 14,000 Vermont households in 2023 S
Approximately 55,000 workers, 16% of the state workforce working remotely report other clear differences from personal workers: they are older, more likely to be women and are more likely to work on professional, connected with information or administrative roles.
Peter Nelson, a demographic explorer in Matlebury College, called the differences “charming phenomenon” that “will become more and more pronounced on the spot as Vermont”, where the owners of the second home or recent migrants are quite common and can benefit from the opportunity For distance work.
“On the one hand, our politicians would like to claim that they have created 55,000 jobs that pay an average of $ 65,000 a year. This is what people dream of, “he said. “But at the same time, we saw in the (this) state what the impact of the coming of the higher income population on our very limited home supply.”
Vermont authorities have tried to encourage migration to the state through programs such as restoration of remote worker costs, claiming that new working residents are essential to Vermont’s economy and future. But it seems that migration during the Covid-19 pandemic has played a role in the growing demand for housing, according to the latest state state report, raising prices and reducing the availability of apartments and homes.
It is difficult to say how many Vermont residents worked from home worked for companies outside the state in 2023, since the census does not track the employer of each respondent. O
There are other warnings. As the data are reported themselves, the various respondents may have different definitions of whether they “work from home”, including those who can actually go to physical work a few days a week.
Nelson, however, said the data seemed to match incomplete models in the breakdown by profession and industry. Vermont residents with professional, management or financial roles are more likely to work remotely, probably because their profession makes it easier. Professions such as retail, production and construction are less likely to work remotely.
Nelson said he could do his job as a professor almost anywhere, in the meantime, “a college plumber is not very useful if this plumber is home.”
The data also reveal trends in the demographics of remote workers. They are usually a little older, which, according to Nelson, suggests that older employees are more likely to have flexibility when working from a distance. He gave an example of someone who worked at a company in Boston, after which he moved to Vermont and took his clients with him.
About 54% of remote workers are women, compared to 49% of the entire workforce. This may be due to the fact that women choose to work from home to deal with their bigger home load, Nelson said.
“We know that within households the distribution of home responsibilities is not shared equally,” he said.
But he warned that home businesses, as child -dominated children, could also distort the data.
Personal workers had an average time for one -way trip of 24 minutes, data show. Most of them drove their own car to work, at 81%, with about 10% shared trip, and the rest drove a bike, walked or used some form of public transport.
Despite the fact that remote workers did not use their traveling cars to the workplace, it was as likely as the average worker to have access to one or more cars.
“This is another class differentiation indication,” Nelson said. “They don’t work from home because they are stuck at home. They work at home of your choice.
The census only publishes a district data for a five-year average due to the smaller sample signs. Between 2019 and 2023, the remote work was usually the highest in Chitenden, Washington and Windham districts and lower in Rutland and the Northeast Kingdom. The percentage slightly correlates with broadband access and the percentage of professional roles workers.
Although the division between distant and personal workers can be the result of long -term divisions in the workforce, it can also deepen them, allowing remote workers with additional privileges such as saving the cost of traveling to the workplace and flexibility of housing.
“The privilege allows for more privilege,” Nelson said.
The division can already change how and when the owners of a second home in Vermont come to the state. In a preliminary survey of the location of mobile phones, Nelson found that the owners of the second home visit in less predictable hours and remain for longer than the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
He believes this change can be partly the result of a remote work that makes it easier for visitors to be flexible in their schedule.
“It was not like everyone to arrive in July and then leave in December or January,” like classic “snow birds,” he said. “What seems to happen in places like the entertainment destinations in Vermont or Colorado is that the rhythm has changed and the length of time that people spend in what you would describe as a place for a second home is extended.”