Photo: Bbqamazing · CC BY-SA 4.0At 3.4%, unemployment in Bridgewater is lower than in 63% of U.S. towns
The two grades for Bridgewater are B+ for jobs and income and A− for walkability. 11% of workers work from home (Virginia 18%). About one in seven stay in Bridgewater for work; outside it, Harrisonburg is the main destination (28%, 6 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Bridgewater
Commutes from Bridgewater 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 ↓
Bridgewater and Harrisonburg trade workers both ways
Harrisonburg is the top workplace for Bridgewater residents (28%) and also where the most people who work in Bridgewater come from (25% 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.
Why Bridgewater gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Bridgewater is better than 68% of U.S. towns, #145 of 253 in Virginia. The poverty rate holds Bridgewater’s grade up (6.3%, U.S. 12.5%); household income pulls it down ($75,280, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on unemployment and job access by car.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Bridgewater could be anywhere from C to A.
How long Bridgewater spends getting to work: about 15 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bridgewater workers work from home, vs 18% across Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,652 commuters (the 11% 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.
Commuting out of Bridgewater: the destinations
Where Bridgewater clocks in
28% 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.
A workday in Bridgewater: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 2,128 residents head out to work, 299 work right here, and 3,043 people come in from elsewhere.
About 7,800 people are in Bridgewater on a workday afternoon, 13% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.38 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.
Jobs in Bridgewater: what the 3,342 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bridgewater, 2013 → 2023: 2,910 → 3,342. 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 Bridgewater’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Bridgewater’s workers travel
About 28% 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.
Bridgewater is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Bridgewater is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns, #92 of 253 in Virginia. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 15.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 5.7% across Virginia, on an EPA index of 7.5.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,970 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). 15.1% of Bridgewater households have no vehicle (Virginia 6.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Bridgewater’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 4,800 to 9,300, Bridgewater ranks 1,256th of 3,229 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,254 | Sunset UT | 5,549 | $76K | 10.5% | 2.9% | 2% | B+ |
| 1,255 | Winooski VT | 8,239 | $80K | 13.8% | 1.2% | 7% | B+ |
| 1,256 | Bridgewater VA | 6,924 | $75K | 6.3% | 3.4% | 12% | B+ |
| 1,257 | Hurley NY | 6,133 | $101K | 10.1% | 2.4% | 5% | B+ |
| 1,258 | Nuevo CA | 6,803 | $113K | 6.6% | 7.0% | 2% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,229 | 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 Bridgewater, 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 Bridgewater: questions
What is the median household income in Bridgewater?
$75,280 (±$19,521) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $93,170 across Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bridgewater?
6.3%, against 9.9% across Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bridgewater?
15 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Virginia and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bridgewater work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Harrisonburg (28%, 6 mi), Dayton (3%, 2 mi), Staunton (2%, 17 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Bridgewater walkable?
Bridgewater is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.5 out of 20, and 15% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bridgewater without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 15% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Bridgewater, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bridgewater
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.