Photo: Mojo Hand · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in Bellwood trail those of 90% of U.S. towns
The poverty rate is 21.0%, where Virginia as a whole has 9.9%. Bellwood grades C for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. At home: 6% of workers have no commute at all (Virginia 18%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Bellwood
Bellwood trades workers with the towns around it
Bellwood has about as many jobs (3,170) as working residents (3,038), but they are mostly different people: 2,954 residents leave for work each day while 3,086 people come in. Only 3% of the jobs in Bellwood are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Stores, warehouses and trucking
46% of the jobs in Bellwood are in trade, transport and utilities, against 24% of the jobs its residents hold. The jobs ↓
Bellwood has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Bellwood went from 2,229 in 2013 to 3,170 in 2023, +42%. The jobs ↓
The jobs in Bellwood pay better than its residents’ jobs
66% of the jobs based in Bellwood pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), against 51% of the jobs Bellwood residents hold. 97% of the jobs here are held by people who live outside Bellwood. The jobs ↓
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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
How Bellwood earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Bellwood is better than 34% of U.S. towns, #209 of 253 in Virginia. Job access by car holds Bellwood’s grade up (ahead of 86% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($47,781, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Bellwood could be anywhere from C− to B.
How a workday changes Bellwood
On a workday 2,954 residents head out to work, 84 work right here, and 3,086 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 (1.04 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
66% of the jobs in Bellwood pay over $3,333 a month
3,170 jobs are based in Bellwood.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bellwood, 2013 → 2023: 2,229 → 3,170. 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 Bellwood’s own residents hold wherever they work.
17% of working residents work in Richmond
Where Bellwood clocks in
17% of workers
3% of workers
2% 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.
Each way, about 24 minutes from Bellwood
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bellwood workers work from home, vs 18% across Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,045 commuters (the 6% 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.
Half of Bellwood commutes less than 12 miles
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.
Driving is how Bellwood gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Bellwood is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns, #146 of 253 in Virginia. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.7% 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 3,255 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 78% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.9 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 67% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 12.6% of Bellwood households have no vehicle (Virginia 6.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Bellwood’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 5,500 to 10,700, Bellwood ranks 2,217th of 3,069 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,215 | Abingdon VA | 8,284 | $55K | 15.9% | 3.0% | 26% | C |
| 2,216 | Wheelersburg OH | 6,313 | $63K | 11.4% | 4.0% | 12% | C |
| 2,217 | Bellwood VA | 7,907 | $48K | 21.0% | 4.4% | 3% | C |
| 2,218 | Exeter PA | 5,587 | $58K | 11.1% | 6.1% | 7% | C |
| 2,219 | Farmington NH | 6,781 | $67K | 11.3% | 4.3% | 8% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 3,069 | 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 Bellwood, the top three, the last and three more from Virginia.
The towns around Bellwood
The biggest share goes to Chester (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Bellwood workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bellwood | – | C | B+ | 24 min | $47,781 |
| Bensley | under 2% | C | B+ | 25 min | $50,547 |
| Chester | 3% | A− | B− | 28 min | $95,104 |
| Meadowbrook | 2% | B | C | 25 min | $86,054 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Bellwood’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 Bellwood: questions
What is the median household income in Bellwood?
$47,781 (±$12,512) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $93,170 across Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bellwood?
21.0%, against 9.9% across Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bellwood?
24 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Virginia and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bellwood work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Richmond (17%, 9 mi), Chester (3%, 4 mi), Petersburg (2%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Bellwood walkable?
Bellwood is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 10.4 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bellwood without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 13% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Bellwood, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bellwood
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.