Photo: Mojo Hand · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Bensley have lower incomes than those in 87% of U.S. towns
Bensley grades C for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. The poverty rate is 22.0%, where Virginia as a whole has 9.9%. For 8% of workers, the job is at home, where Virginia as a whole has 18%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Bensley, in brief
Bensley makes and builds things
77% of the jobs based in Bensley are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Bensley residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 20%. The jobs ↓
The jobs in Bensley pay better than its residents’ jobs
84% of the jobs based in Bensley pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), against 49% of the jobs Bensley residents hold. 99% of the jobs here are held by people who live outside Bensley. The jobs ↓
Bensley and Richmond trade workers both ways
Richmond is the top workplace for Bensley residents (16%) and also where the most people who work in Bensley come from (10% of its jobs). 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.
The four measures behind Bensley’s grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Bensley is better than 26% of U.S. towns, #229 of 253 in Virginia. Job access by car holds Bensley’s grade up (ahead of 88% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Bensley could be anywhere from C− to B.
Goods, not services: 77% of the jobs in Bensley
3,179 jobs are based in Bensley.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bensley, 2013 → 2023: 3,237 → 3,179. 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 Bensley’s own residents hold wherever they work.
16% of working residents work in Richmond
Where Bensley clocks in
16% 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 daily flow of workers through Bensley
On a workday 2,135 residents head out to work, 35 work right here, and 3,144 people come in from elsewhere.
About 7,000 people are in Bensley on a workday afternoon, 17% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.46 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.
Getting to work from Bensley takes about 25 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bensley workers work from home, vs 18% across Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,694 commuters (the 8% 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.
The distance from Bensley to work
About 22% 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.
Few in Bensley walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Bensley is more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns, #133 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 2,926 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 8.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 91% 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). 2.9% of Bensley households have no vehicle (Virginia 6.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of Bensley’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 4,200 to 8,000, Bensley ranks 2,595th of 3,336 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 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6 | Pimmit Hills VA | 6,589 | $173K | 1.6% | 1.3% | 3% | A+ |
| 7 | Braddock VA | 6,536 | $212K | 0.9% | 1.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 20 | South Run VA | 6,600 | $250K | 2.1% | 1.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,593 | Kingsford MI | 5,096 | $62K | 9.0% | 6.4% | 20% | C |
| 2,594 | Wildwood NJ | 5,068 | $75K | 13.7% | 7.4% | 18% | C |
| 2,595 | Bensley VA | 5,949 | $51K | 22.0% | 6.5% | 2% | C |
| 2,596 | Belding MI | 6,000 | $60K | 15.5% | 5.4% | 9% | C |
| 2,597 | Salem MO | 4,674 | $44K | 11.1% | 3.0% | 28% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 3,336 | Medina TX | 4,226 | $22K | 53.8% | 10.1% | 4% | 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 Bensley, the top three, the last and three more from Virginia.
The towns next door employ 19% of Bensley
The biggest share goes to Richmond (16%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Bensley workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bensley | – | C | B+ | 25 min | $50,547 |
| Bellwood | 1% | C | B+ | 24 min | $47,781 |
| Meadowbrook | 2% | B | C | 25 min | $86,054 |
| Richmond | 16% | C+ | A+ | 22 min | $64,587 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Bensley’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 Bensley: questions
What is the median household income in Bensley?
$50,547 (±$13,334) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $93,170 across Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bensley?
22.0%, against 9.9% across Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bensley?
25 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Virginia and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bensley work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Richmond (16%, 6 mi), Mechanicsville (3%, 14 mi), Meadowbrook (2%, 2 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Bensley walkable?
Bensley is more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 9.0 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bensley without a car?
3% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Bensley, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bensley
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.