Photo: Urbancam · Public domainThere are 3.4 jobs in Ashland for every working resident, and 10,312 people commute in
10,735 jobs are based in Ashland for 3,122 working residents. Ashland grades C for jobs and income and A− for walkability. About one in seven work in Ashland; the top destination outside it is Richmond (13%, 16 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Ashland at work: what stands out
Ashland has far more jobs than workers
Ashland has 10,735 jobs, 3.4 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 16,000 people are in town, 95% more than the 8,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
Ashland draws workers from far and wide
The 10,735 jobs in Ashland are filled from a wide area. The ten biggest home towns of its workers supply 25%; the other 71% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
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.
Ashland’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Ashland is better than 34% of U.S. towns, #212 of 253 in Virginia. Job access by car holds Ashland’s grade up (ahead of 78% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (24.3%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Ashland could be anywhere from C− to B.
A workday in Ashland: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 2,699 residents head out to work and 423 work right here.
About 16,000 people are in Ashland on a workday afternoon, 95% more than live here.
3.4 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Who travels to work in Ashland, and from where
Where Ashland clocks in
13% of workers
3% 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 kinds of work in Ashland
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ashland, 2013 → 2023: 9,972 → 10,735. 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 Ashland’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Ashland, about 23 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ashland workers work from home, vs 18% across Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,017 commuters (the 14% 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.
How many miles Ashland commutes
About 20% 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.
Ashland is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Ashland is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns, #93 of 253 in Virginia. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 9.9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 5.7% across Virginia, on an EPA index of 7.8.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 3,522 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). 5.9% of Ashland households have no vehicle (Virginia 6.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Ashland’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 3,015 U.S. towns of 5,600 to 10,800, Ashland comes 2,202nd on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 12 | Difficult Run VA | 9,938 | $250K | 1.4% | 1.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,200 | Marengo IL | 7,737 | $74K | 15.7% | 9.8% | 9% | C |
| 2,201 | Newark NY | 8,919 | $60K | 22.2% | 3.0% | 25% | C |
| 2,202 | Ashland VA | 7,982 | $61K | 24.3% | 4.9% | 14% | C |
| 2,203 | Heber CA | 7,312 | $72K | 10.6% | 7.8% | 7% | C |
| 2,204 | Cherry Valley CA | 6,668 | $77K | 13.2% | 11.9% | 2% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 3,015 | 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 Ashland, 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 Ashland: questions
What is the median household income in Ashland?
$61,164 (±$16,895) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $93,170 across Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ashland?
24.3%, against 9.9% across Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ashland?
23 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Virginia and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ashland work?
14% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Richmond (13%, 16 mi), Mechanicsville (3%, 11 mi), Innsbrook (3%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Ashland walkable?
Ashland is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.8 out of 20, and 10% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ashland without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Ashland, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ashland
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.