Barre vs Waterbury

A side-by-side comparison of Barre and Waterbury: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Barre has the higher population (8,461 vs 1,728 in Waterbury). Waterbury has the higher median household income ($59,934 vs $53,288 in Barre). Waterbury has the higher median home value ($332,900 vs $200,100 in Barre).

Population, income & housing

	Barre	Waterbury
Population	8,461	1,728
Median age	40.9 yrs	40.7 yrs
Median household income	$53,288	$59,934
Median home value	$200,100	$332,900
Median gross rent	$986	$984
Housing units	4,364	1,029
Homeownership rate	50.1%	38.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	32.7%	54.8%
Unemployment rate	6.0%	3.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Barre	Waterbury
Population	8,646 → 8,461 (-2.1%)	1,841 → 1,728 (-6.1%)
Median household income	$38,142 → $53,288 (+39.7%)	$65,347 → $59,934 (-8.3%)
Median home value	$158,300 → $200,100 (+26.4%)	$257,000 → $332,900 (+29.5%)
Median gross rent	$739 → $986 (+33.4%)	$986 → $984 (-0.2%)

Barre

Population

8,6468,461

Median household income

$38,142$53,288

Median home value

$158,300$200,100

Median gross rent

$739$986

Waterbury

Population

1,8411,728

Median household income

$65,347$59,934

Median home value

$257,000$332,900

Median gross rent

$986$984

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Barre	Waterbury
Under 5	4.5%	3.0%
5 to 17	12.4%	18.8%
18 to 24	5.9%	1.5%
25 to 34	19.1%	19.5%
35 to 44	10.0%	17.9%
45 to 54	6.8%	6.9%
55 to 64	22.8%	10.5%
65 to 74	10.7%	10.2%
75 and over	7.8%	11.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Barre	Waterbury
White (non-Hispanic)	92.9%	94.5%
Black or African American	0.3%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.9%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.0%
Two or more races	3.4%	5.4%
Hispanic or Latino	2.4%	0.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Barre	Waterbury
No high school diploma	8.3%	0.5%
High school graduate	34.6%	16.7%
Some college or associate's	24.5%	27.9%
Bachelor's degree	25.1%	37.3%
Graduate or professional degree	7.6%	17.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Barre	Waterbury
Drove alone	71.7%	72.4%
Carpooled	8.3%	2.5%
Public transit	1.9%	0.0%
Walked	6.1%	8.3%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	12.0%	16.9%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Barre	Waterbury
1-unit, detached	43.9%	34.9%
1-unit, attached	1.7%	13.5%
2 to 4 units	29.3%	18.4%
5 to 19 units	16.7%	26.3%
20 or more units	7.9%	6.9%
Mobile home & other	0.6%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Barre	Waterbury
Poverty rate	19.3%	15.8%
Average household size	1.99	1.84
Mean commute (minutes)	20	23
Median year structure built	1950	1951