Essex is a somewhat small town located in the state of Vermont. With a population of 18,626 people and two constituent neighborhoods, Essex is the fourth largest community in Vermont.

Essex is a decidedly white-collar town, with fully 85.32% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Essex is a town of professionals, sales and office workers, and managers. There are especially a lot of people living in Essex who work in office and administrative support jobs (15.34%), sales jobs (10.82%), and management occupations (10.03%).

Also of interest is that Essex has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.

In addition, Essex is home to many people who could be described as "urban sophisticates." Urban sophisticates are educated, wealthy, executives and professionals, who have urbane tastes in books, food, and travel, whether they actually live in a big city, or choose to reside in a small town. In big or medium-sized cities, urban sophisticates tend to frequent art institutions such as opera, symphonies, ballet, live theatre, and museums.

Because of many things, Essex is a very good place for families to consider. With an enviable combination of good schools, low crime, college-educated neighbors who tend to support education because of their own experiences, and a high rate of home ownership in predominantly single-family properties, Essex really has some of the features that families look for when choosing a good community to raise children. Is Essex perfect? Of course not, and if you like frenetic night life, it will be far from your cup of tea. But overall this is a solid community, with many things to recommend it as a family-friendly place to live.

Residents of the town have the good fortune of having one of the shortest daily commutes compared to the rest of the country. On average, they spend only 18.85 minutes getting to work every day.

For most residents of Essex, getting to work requires a car. In fact, 96.5% of people in Essex drive alone to work on most days, making Essex a very car-oriented town. In general, car-oriented communities tend to emphasize streets, highways, and ease of parking, often to the detriment of walkability. Strip centers are a feature of Essex's landscape.

Essex Information and Demographics

Do you have a 4-year college degree or graduate degree? If so, you may feel right at home in Essex. 45.64% of adults here have a 4-year degree or graduate degree, whereas the national average for all cities and towns is just 14.96%.

The per capita income in Essex in 2000 was $25,854, which is wealthy relative to Vermont and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $103,416 for a family of four. However, Essex contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

The people who call Essex home come from a variety of different races and ancestries. The most prevalent race in Essex is White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Essex include Irish, English, French Canadian, French, German, Italian, Polish, and Scottish.

The most common language spoken in Essex is English. Some people also speak French.