Photo: Nyttend · Public domainWith 0.3 jobs for every working resident, most of Bracey works elsewhere
203 jobs are based in Bracey for 588 working residents. Bracey grades C+ for jobs and income and C− for walkability. Only 5% work in Bracey; the top destination outside it is South Hill (9%, 10 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Bracey apart
The figures behind Bracey’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Bracey is better than 42% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Bracey’s grade up (3.1%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 8% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (3.6%) is left out: Bracey’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Bracey could be anywhere from C− to B.
Where in the region Bracey works
About 57% 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.
Bracey by day and by night
On a workday 556 residents head out to work, 32 work right here, and 171 people come in from elsewhere.
About 860 people are in Bracey on a workday afternoon, 31% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
The places Bracey commutes to
Where Bracey clocks in
9% of workers
9% 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 Bracey
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bracey, 2013 → 2023: 210 → 203. 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 Bracey’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting from Bracey: about 23 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bracey workers work from home, vs 18% across Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 439 commuters (the 23% 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 commute in Bracey is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Bracey is more walkable than 18% 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 573 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). 0.0% of Bracey households have no vehicle (Virginia 6.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Bracey’s commuters take a bus or train.
Bracey places 2,025th of 4,866 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 900 to 1,700
| # | 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% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 12 | Great Falls Crossing VA | 1,414 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 19 | Occoquan VA | 1,078 | $134K | 2.1% | 5.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 158 | Haymarket VA | 1,602 | $174K | 3.2% | 4.0% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,023 | Van Buren Township OH | 1,523 | $76K | 11.9% | 2.2% | 3% | C+ |
| 2,024 | Fairfield WI | 1,046 | $85K | 11.5% | 0.2% | 3% | C+ |
| 2,025 | Bracey VA | 1,242 | $65K | 3.1% | 3.6% | 5% | C+ |
| 2,026 | Oxford KS | 1,038 | $59K | 7.1% | 1.2% | 4% | C+ |
| 2,027 | Entiat WA | 1,576 | $76K | 4.9% | 7.2% | 8% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,866 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Bracey, 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 Bracey: questions
What is the median household income in Bracey?
$64,605 (±$17,790) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $93,170 across Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bracey?
3.1%, against 9.9% across Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bracey?
23 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Virginia and 26 nationally. 23% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bracey work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are South Hill (9%, 10 mi), Richmond (9%, 75 mi), Boydton (3%, 17 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Bracey walkable?
Bracey is more walkable than 18% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.5 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bracey without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Bracey, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bracey
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.