Photo: Gerry Dincher · CC BY-SA 2.0Most of Virginia commutes out: there are 0.5 jobs for every working resident
Employers in Virginia report 343 jobs; 700 of its residents have a job. Virginia grades C− for jobs and income and B− for walkability. Home is the office for 4% of workers, where Illinois as a whole has 16%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Virginia apart
Virginia’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Virginia is Springfield, 32 miles away as the crow flies. 16% of working residents (112) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Few Virginia workers work from home
Only 4% of workers work from home, against 16% across Illinois. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Commutes from Virginia are quick
The average trip to work takes 23 minutes, against 28 across Illinois. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical Illinois worker. Time on the road ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 700 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How Virginia earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Virginia is better than 19% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Virginia’s grade.
Unemployment (4.1%) is left out: Virginia’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Virginia could be anywhere from D to B−.
How far Virginia’s workers travel
About 29% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Getting to work from Virginia takes about 23 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Virginia workers work from home, vs 16% across Illinois. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 669 commuters (the 4% who work from home are left out). Across Illinois: 78% drive alone, 7% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Who works in Virginia, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 632 residents head out to work, 68 work right here, and 275 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,100 people are in Virginia on a workday afternoon, 25% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
The towns that employ Virginia’s residents
Where Virginia clocks in
16% of workers
12% of workers
7% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Services make up most of the work in Virginia
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Virginia, 2013 → 2023: 430 → 343. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Virginia’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute in Virginia is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Virginia is more walkable than 45% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 10.8% across Illinois.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 695 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 3.2% of Virginia households have no vehicle (Illinois 11.0%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Virginia’s commuters take a bus or train.
4,140th of 5,877: where Virginia ranks among U.S. towns of 1,000 to 1,900
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 29 | Tower Lakes IL | 1,201 | $154K | 2.0% | 2.8% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 32 | Third Lake IL | 1,103 | $150K | 2.0% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 37 | Lily Lake IL | 1,073 | $140K | 0.2% | 8.9% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,138 | Bayside Gardens OR | 1,128 | $78K | 14.9% | 8.9% | 1% | C− |
| 4,139 | Sylvania AL | 1,853 | $56K | 10.6% | 5.4% | 1% | C− |
| 4,140 | Virginia IL | 1,442 | $59K | 12.7% | 4.1% | 10% | C− |
| 4,141 | Cambria IL | 1,796 | $58K | 18.5% | 5.2% | 4% | C− |
| 4,142 | Quincy MI | 1,564 | $60K | 16.7% | 2.7% | 5% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,877 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Virginia, the top three, the last and three more from Illinois.
Virginia and the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Virginia Township (5%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Virginia workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Virginia | – | C− | B− | 23 min | $59,375 |
| Virginia Township | 5% | — | — | 22 min | — |
| Sangamon Valley Township | under 1% | — | — | 18 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Virginia Township: not graded. Sangamon Valley Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Virginia’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Virginia: questions
What is the median household income in Virginia?
$59,375 (±$9,541) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,390 across Illinois and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Virginia?
12.7%, against 11.8% across Illinois and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Virginia?
23 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Illinois and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Virginia work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Springfield (16%, 32 mi), Jacksonville (12%, 16 mi), Beardstown (7%, 12 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Virginia walkable?
Virginia is more walkable than 45% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.4 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Virginia without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Virginia, from the people who make the trip.
More of Virginia
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.