Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Charlottesville has 2.0 jobs for every working resident: 28,499 people commute in to work
There are 34,483 jobs in Charlottesville, and 17,604 of its residents work somewhere. Jobs and income earn Charlottesville B+; getting around on foot earns it A+. Family incomes here are higher than in 77% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Charlottesville apart on work
Commutes from Charlottesville are quick
The average trip to work takes 17 minutes, against 27 across Virginia. That’s about 77 hours a year less on the road than the typical Virginia worker. Time on the road ↓
Charlottesville is where the jobs are
Charlottesville has 34,483 jobs, 2.0 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Charlottesville draws workers from far and wide
The 34,483 jobs in Charlottesville are filled from a wide area. Charlottesville’s own residents hold 17% and the ten next-biggest home towns 15%; the other 68% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Most Charlottesville residents work close to home
66% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. How far ↓
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.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Charlottesville
On family income, poverty and job access, Charlottesville is better than 72% of U.S. towns, #134 of 253 in Virginia. Family income holds Charlottesville’s grade up ($119,149, U.S. $99,999); the poverty rate pulls it down (11.5%, U.S. 11.9%). It also does well on job access by car.
22% of Charlottesville’s residents are college students, and off-campus students count in the Census poverty figures. Where students are 15% or more of the people the Census checks for poverty (18% here), the grade uses the rate without them: 11.5%, against 19.6% for all residents. Unemployment (3.7%) is left out here: students looking for part-time work count as unemployed. Income is ranked as median family income ($119,149), since student households pull the household median down ($74,824).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for family income and poverty, Charlottesville could be anywhere from B to A−.
Getting to work from Charlottesville takes about 17 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Charlottesville workers work from home, vs 18% across Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 18,412 commuters (the 21% 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.
Charlottesville by day and by night
On a workday 11,620 residents head out to work and 5,984 work right here.
About 61,000 people are in Charlottesville on a workday afternoon, 38% more 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 Charlottesville’s workforce comes from
Where Charlottesville clocks in
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.
How many miles Charlottesville commutes
About 25% 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.
In Charlottesville, services account for most jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Charlottesville, 2013 → 2023: 30,910 → 34,483. 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 Charlottesville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Charlottesville is among the most walkable U.S. towns
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Charlottesville is among the most walkable U.S. towns, #2 of 253 in Virginia. Both inputs place Charlottesville near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 23,413 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 63% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 10.9 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 94% 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). 11.0% of Charlottesville households have no vehicle (Virginia 6.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 7% of Charlottesville’s commuters take a bus or train.
Charlottesville places 442nd of 1,000 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 31,000 to 60,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6 | Oakton VA | 36,528 | $161K | 4.6% | 1.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 52 | Ashburn VA | 46,026 | $155K | 4.0% | 3.2% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 440 | Burlington VT | 44,019 | $71K | 20.5% | 4.3% | 44% | B+ |
| 441 | Warwick NY | 31,685 | $119K | 7.9% | 3.8% | 21% | B+ |
| 442 | Charlottesville VA | 44,388 | $75K | 19.6% | 3.7% | 34% | B+ |
| 443 | Enfield CT | 41,142 | $90K | 8.3% | 4.1% | 17% | B+ |
| 444 | French Valley CA | 45,269 | $149K | 4.9% | 6.5% | 4% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,000 | 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 Charlottesville, the top three, the last and three more from Virginia.
20% of Charlottesville works in a bordering town
The biggest share goes to University of Virginia (17%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Charlottesville workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charlottesville | – | B+ | A+ | 17 min | $74,824 |
| University of Virginia | 17% | C+ | A+ | 17 min | $52,546 |
| Pantops | 3% | A | A | 19 min | $127,552 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Charlottesville’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. 22% 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 Charlottesville: questions
What is the median household income in Charlottesville?
$74,824 (±$5,371) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $93,170 across Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Charlottesville?
19.6% of residents live below the poverty line; leaving out college students, 11.5%. Virginia: 9.9%.
How long is the commute from Charlottesville?
17 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Virginia and 26 nationally. 21% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Charlottesville work?
34% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are University of Virginia (17%, 2 mi), Pantops (3%, 2 mi), Richmond (2%, 65 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Charlottesville walkable?
Charlottesville is among the most walkable U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 14.5 out of 20, and 26% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Charlottesville without a car?
7% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. 63% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Charlottesville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Charlottesville
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.