Photo: Adamster524 · CC BY-SA 2.0Abingdon draws 7,168 commuters a day, with 2.6 jobs for every working resident
Jobs and income earn Abingdon C; getting around on foot earns it B+. Abingdon has 7,962 jobs, against 3,064 working residents. Measured by household income, Abingdon is behind 82% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Abingdon at work: what stands out
Abingdon is where the jobs are
Abingdon has 7,962 jobs, 2.6 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 13,000 people are in town, 59% more than the 8,300 who live here. Day and night ↓
Abingdon draws workers from far and wide
The 7,962 jobs in Abingdon are filled from a wide area. Abingdon’s own residents hold 10% and the ten next-biggest home towns 15%; the other 75% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Commutes from Abingdon are quick
The average trip to work takes 16 minutes, against 27 across Virginia. That’s about 84 hours a year less on the road than the typical Virginia 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.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Abingdon
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Abingdon is better than 34% of U.S. towns, #208 of 253 in Virginia. Unemployment holds Abingdon’s grade up (3.0%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($54,544, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Abingdon could be anywhere from C− to B−.
How many people are in Abingdon by day
On a workday 2,270 residents head out to work and 794 work right here.
About 13,000 people are in Abingdon on a workday afternoon, 59% more 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 send workers to Abingdon
Where Abingdon clocks in
9% of workers
4% of workers
3% 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.
The trip to work from Abingdon: about 16 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Abingdon workers work from home, vs 18% across Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,530 commuters (the 7% who work from home are left out). Across Virginia: 83% drive alone, 3% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Abingdon is a services town
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Abingdon, 2013 → 2023: 9,094 → 7,962. 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 Abingdon’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The distance from Abingdon to work
About 19% 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.
In Abingdon, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Abingdon is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns, #150 of 253 in Virginia. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 5.7% across Virginia.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 3,796 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). 7.2% of Abingdon households have no vehicle (Virginia 6.1%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Abingdon’s commuters take a bus or train.
2,191st of 3,012: where Abingdon ranks among U.S. towns of 5,800 to 11,200
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5 | Pimmit Hills VA | 6,589 | $173K | 1.6% | 1.3% | 3% | A+ |
| 6 | Braddock VA | 6,536 | $212K | 0.9% | 1.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 11 | Difficult Run VA | 9,938 | $250K | 1.4% | 1.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,189 | Pine Ridge FL | 10,762 | $71K | 15.1% | 3.5% | 4% | C |
| 2,190 | Gardiner ME | 6,206 | $72K | 10.5% | 7.5% | 14% | C |
| 2,191 | Abingdon VA | 8,284 | $55K | 15.9% | 3.0% | 26% | C |
| 2,192 | Wheelersburg OH | 6,313 | $63K | 11.4% | 4.0% | 12% | C |
| 2,193 | Bellwood VA | 7,907 | $48K | 21.0% | 4.4% | 3% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 3,012 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Abingdon, the top three, the last and three more from Virginia.
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 Abingdon: questions
What is the median household income in Abingdon?
$54,544 (±$7,014) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $93,170 across Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Abingdon?
15.9%, against 9.9% across Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Abingdon?
16 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Virginia and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Abingdon work?
26% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Bristol (9%, 12 mi), Bristol (4%, 17 mi), Marion (3%, 27 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Abingdon walkable?
Abingdon is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.4 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Abingdon without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Abingdon, from the people who make the trip.
More of Abingdon
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.