Pownal vs South Shaftsbury

A side-by-side comparison of Pownal and South Shaftsbury: population, income, housing, and more.

Pownal and South Shaftsbury are places in Vermont. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Pownal has the higher population (587 vs 442 in South Shaftsbury). South Shaftsbury has the higher median household income ($58,692 vs $55,156 in Pownal). Pownal has the higher median home value ($215,900 vs $194,200 in South Shaftsbury).

Population, income & housing

	Pownal	South Shaftsbury
Population	587	442
Median age	29.1 yrs	64.1 yrs
Median household income	$55,156	$58,692
Median home value	$215,900	$194,200
Housing units	172	237
Homeownership rate	93.6%	97.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	4.2%	19.3%
Unemployment rate	16.9%	0.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Pownal	South Shaftsbury
Population	666 → 587 (-11.9%)	412 → 442 (+7.3%)
Median household income	$56,771 → $55,156 (-2.8%)	$51,818 → $58,692 (+13.3%)
Median home value	—	$194,900 → $194,200 (-0.4%)

Pownal

Population

666587

Median household income

$56,771$55,156

South Shaftsbury

Population

412442

Median household income

$51,818$58,692

Median home value

$194,900$194,200

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Pownal	South Shaftsbury
Under 5	7.0%	0.5%
5 to 17	11.8%	12.7%
18 to 24	28.3%	4.8%
25 to 34	5.3%	9.3%
35 to 44	14.7%	0.2%
45 to 54	9.0%	4.5%
55 to 64	1.9%	23.5%
65 to 74	7.8%	40.5%
75 and over	14.3%	4.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Pownal	South Shaftsbury
White (non-Hispanic)	84.8%	88.9%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	6.3%	0.0%
Two or more races	0.3%	11.1%
Hispanic or Latino	8.5%	0.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Pownal	South Shaftsbury
No high school diploma	13.8%	5.0%
High school graduate	46.6%	20.4%
Some college or associate's	35.4%	55.4%
Bachelor's degree	4.2%	7.2%
Graduate or professional degree	0.0%	12.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Pownal	South Shaftsbury
Drove alone	77.9%	99.2%
Carpooled	0.0%	0.8%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	22.1%	0.0%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Pownal	South Shaftsbury
1-unit, detached	48.8%	95.8%
1-unit, attached	8.7%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	6.4%	4.2%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	36.0%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Pownal	South Shaftsbury
Poverty rate	21.6%	5.9%
Average household size	3.38	2.11
Mean commute (minutes)	22	18
Median year structure built	1969	1951