Photo: Nyttend · Public domainHousehold incomes in Bassett trail those of 92% of U.S. towns
Only 3% stay in Bassett for work; outside it, Collinsville is the main destination (11%, 5 miles). Poverty touches 9.4% of residents, against 9.9% across Virginia. The two grades for Bassett are C for jobs and income and D for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Bassett at work: what stands out
Where Bassett’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty and job access, Bassett is better than 26% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Bassett’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($45,563, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (2.4%) is left out: Bassett’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, Bassett could be anywhere from D to B−.
Making and building: 64% of jobs based in Bassett
479 jobs are based in Bassett.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bassett, 2014 → 2024: 450 → 479. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Bassett’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A workday in Bassett: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 372 residents head out to work, 11 work right here, and 468 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.25 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Commuting out of Bassett: the destinations
Where Bassett clocks in
9% of workers
6% 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.
Getting to work from Bassett takes about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bassett workers work from home, vs 18% across Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 323 commuters (the 12% 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 far it is to work from Bassett
About 15% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Getting around Bassett: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Bassett is more walkable than 15% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 366 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). 12.3% of Bassett households have no vehicle (Virginia 6.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Bassett’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 3,133 U.S. towns of 700 to 1,400, Bassett comes 1,881st on jobs and income
| # | 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% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | Occoquan VA | 1,078 | $134K | 2.1% | 5.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 110 | Kincora VA | 1,008 | $134K | 8.8% | 6.3% | 0% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 178 | Ruckersville VA | 1,399 | $102K | 0.0% | 0.0% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,879 | Bratton Township PA | 1,181 | $63K | 8.5% | 0.6% | 3% | C |
| 1,880 | Annville KY | 1,063 | $56K | 7.3% | 0.9% | 10% | C |
| 1,881 | Bassett VA | 1,031 | $46K | 9.4% | 2.4% | 3% | C |
| 1,882 | Mason Township IL | 1,243 | $78K | 15.6% | 3.4% | 1% | C |
| 1,883 | Lyon Township MI | 1,279 | $68K | 8.2% | 3.2% | 7% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 3,133 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 1% | 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 Bassett, the top three, the last and three more from Virginia.
Next door to Bassett
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Bassett workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bassett | – | C | D | 26 min | $45,563 |
| Stanleytown | 3% | C− | D | 18 min | $40,000 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Stanleytown. Darker towns draw more of Bassett’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 2024, 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 Bassett: questions
What is the median household income in Bassett?
$45,563 (±$3,202) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $93,170 across Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bassett?
9.4%, against 9.9% across Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bassett?
26 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Virginia and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bassett work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Collinsville (11%, 5 mi), Martinsville (9%, 9 mi), Rocky Mount (6%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Bassett walkable?
Bassett is more walkable than 15% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 6.1 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bassett without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Bassett, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bassett
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.