Photo: Smash the Iron Cage · CC BY-SA 4.0College students make up 56% of Blacksburg’s residents
A typical one-way commute lasts 15 minutes (Virginia 27, U.S. 26). Family incomes here are higher than in 89% of U.S. towns. About half work in Blacksburg itself; outside it, Christiansburg draws the most (8%, 6 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Blacksburg at work: what stands out
Commutes from Blacksburg are quick
The average trip to work takes 15 minutes, against 27 across Virginia. That’s about 92 hours a year less on the road than the typical Virginia worker. Time on the road ↓
Blacksburg is where the jobs are
Blacksburg has 21,328 jobs, 2.3 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
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.
Where Blacksburg’s Jobs & income grade comes from
Family income holds Blacksburg’s grade up ($144,299, U.S. $99,999); the poverty rate pulls it down (16.5%, U.S. 11.9%).
Where students are 15% or more of the people the Census checks for poverty (44% here), the grade uses the rate without them: 16.5%, against 42.7% for all residents. Unemployment (3.1%) is left out here: students looking for part-time work count as unemployed. Income is ranked as median family income ($144,299), since student households pull the household median down ($50,182).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for family income and poverty, Blacksburg could be anywhere from B− to B+.
About 15 minutes each way, quicker than most of Virginia
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Blacksburg workers work from home, vs 18% across Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 15,994 commuters (the 18% 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.
Blacksburg by day and by night
On a workday 4,974 residents head out to work, 4,488 work right here, and 16,840 people come in from elsewhere.
About 57,000 people are in Blacksburg on a workday afternoon, 26% more than live here.
2.3 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.
Commuting in to Blacksburg: where workers come from
Where Blacksburg clocks in
8% 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.
Services make up most of the work in Blacksburg
21,328 jobs are based in Blacksburg.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Blacksburg, 2013 → 2023: 21,098 → 21,328. 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 Blacksburg’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Blacksburg’s commute, mile by mile
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.
Blacksburg is more walkable than 97% of U.S. towns
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 19,552 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 85% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 50% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 185.4 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, among the most 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). 6.4% of Blacksburg households have no vehicle (Virginia 6.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 8% of Blacksburg’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Blacksburg ranks: 601st of 953 U.S. towns of 32,000 to 61,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| 3 | Upper Arlington OH | 35,893 | $155K | 3.3% | 2.0% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5 | Oakton VA | 36,528 | $161K | 4.6% | 1.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 49 | Ashburn VA | 46,026 | $155K | 4.0% | 3.2% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 599 | Berwyn IL | 55,001 | $78K | 10.9% | 6.9% | 5% | B |
| 600 | Hollister CA | 45,695 | $112K | 7.9% | 5.6% | 24% | B |
| 601 | Blacksburg VA | 45,104 | $50K | 42.7% | 3.1% | 47% | B |
| 602 | Miami Township OH | 52,991 | $80K | 11.5% | 5.2% | 15% | B |
| 603 | Yucaipa CA | 54,953 | $91K | 9.1% | 7.0% | 11% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 953 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Blacksburg, the top three, the last and three more from Virginia.
Next door to Blacksburg
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Blacksburg workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blacksburg | – | B | A+ | 15 min | $50,182 |
| Merrimac | under 1% | C+ | B+ | 13 min | $53,611 |
| Prices Fork | under 1% | — | — | 16 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Prices Fork: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Blacksburg’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.
- Students. 56% of residents are college students; the poverty input leaves off-campus students out (above).
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Blacksburg: questions
What is the median household income in Blacksburg?
$50,182 (±$7,596) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $93,170 across Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Blacksburg?
42.7% of residents live below the poverty line; leaving out college students, 16.5%. Virginia: 9.9%.
How long is the commute from Blacksburg?
15 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Virginia and 26 nationally. 18% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Blacksburg work?
47% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Christiansburg (8%, 6 mi), Roanoke (4%, 26 mi), Radford (3%, 11 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Blacksburg walkable?
Blacksburg is more walkable than 97% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 11.9 out of 20, and 26% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Blacksburg without a car?
8% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 50% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Blacksburg, from the people who make the trip.
More of Blacksburg
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.