Photo: Idawriter · CC BY-SA 3.0Most of Cana commutes out: there are 0.4 jobs for every working resident
There are 164 jobs in Cana, against 436 working residents. Only 4% stay in Cana for work; outside it, Mount Airy is the main destination (20%, 6 miles). 1% of workers have no commute at all, against 18% across Virginia.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Cana and work: the main findings
How long Cana spends getting to work: about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Cana workers work from home, vs 18% across Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 490 commuters (the 1% 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 daily flow of workers through Cana
On a workday 418 residents head out to work, 18 work right here, and 146 people come in from elsewhere.
About 690 people are in Cana on a workday afternoon, 28% 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.
Where Cana’s working residents head each day
Where Cana clocks in
20% of workers
8% of workers
4% 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 Cana
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Cana, 2013 → 2023: 180 → 164. 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 Cana’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Cana
About 26% 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.
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 Cana: questions
What is the median household income in Cana?
$61,607 (±$31,956) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $93,170 across Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Cana?
15.4%, against 9.9% across Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Cana?
26 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Virginia and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Cana work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Mount Airy (20%, 6 mi), Hillsville (8%, 13 mi), Galax (4%, 15 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Cana 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 Cana, from the people who make the trip.
More of Cana
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.