Photo: Mojo Hand · CC BY-SA 4.0Colonial Heights at work: jobs, income and the commute
About one in seven work in Colonial Heights itself; outside it, Richmond draws the most (11%, 19 miles). Colonial Heights grades B+ for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. 8% of workers have no commute at all, next to 18% for Virginia as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Colonial Heights, in brief
Colonial Heights trades workers with the towns around it
Colonial Heights has about as many jobs (8,764) as working residents (8,177), but they are mostly different people: 7,092 residents leave for work each day while 7,679 people come in. Only 12% of the jobs in Colonial Heights are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Colonial Heights draws workers from far and wide
The 8,764 jobs in Colonial Heights are filled from a wide area. Colonial Heights’ own residents hold 12% and the ten next-biggest home towns 22%; the other 66% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Colonial Heights
55% of Colonial Heights residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 36% of the jobs based in Colonial Heights pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 87% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
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’s behind Colonial Heights’ Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Colonial Heights is better than 70% of U.S. towns, #137 of 253 in Virginia. Job access by car is its strongest input (ahead of 79% of U.S. towns); household income ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns ($76,505, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Colonial Heights could be anywhere from B− to A.
The workday shuffle in and out of Colonial Heights
On a workday 7,092 residents head out to work, 1,085 work right here, and 7,679 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.07 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.
Where people from Colonial Heights work
Where Colonial Heights clocks in
11% of workers
5% 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.
Jobs in Colonial Heights: what the 8,764 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Colonial Heights, 2013 → 2023: 8,954 → 8,764. 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 Colonial Heights’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 26 minutes in Colonial Heights
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Colonial Heights workers work from home, vs 18% across Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 7,936 commuters (the 8% 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.
Half of Colonial Heights commutes less than 18 miles
About 18% 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.
Driving is how Colonial Heights gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Colonial Heights is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns, #143 of 253 in Virginia. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.5% of 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 8,646 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). 6.8% of Colonial Heights households have no vehicle (Virginia 6.1%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Colonial Heights’ commuters take a bus or train.
863rd of 1,915: where Colonial Heights ranks among U.S. towns of 13,000 to 25,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Trophy Club TX | 13,695 | $201K | 2.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 4 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6 | Wolf Trap VA | 15,858 | $250K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 19 | Rose Hill VA | 21,066 | $175K | 2.6% | 2.7% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 861 | Cedar Lake IN | 16,789 | $83K | 3.5% | 5.5% | 6% | B+ |
| 862 | Stafford TX | 18,043 | $87K | 8.0% | 5.8% | 6% | B+ |
| 863 | Colonial Heights VA | 18,738 | $77K | 7.9% | 3.6% | 13% | B+ |
| 864 | Robinson TX | 13,028 | $99K | 3.7% | 6.6% | 5% | B+ |
| 865 | Oxford Township MI | 23,066 | $114K | 7.0% | 6.0% | 9% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,915 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Colonial Heights, the top three, the last and three more from Virginia.
Around Colonial Heights: the bordering towns
The biggest share goes to Petersburg (5%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Colonial Heights workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colonial Heights | – | B+ | B+ | 26 min | $76,505 |
| Ettrick | under 2% | C | B+ | 21 min | $58,137 |
| Petersburg | 5% | C− | A− | 26 min | $50,698 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Colonial Heights’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.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Colonial Heights: questions
What is the median household income in Colonial Heights?
$76,505 (±$5,526) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $93,170 across Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Colonial Heights?
7.9%, against 9.9% across Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Colonial Heights?
26 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Virginia and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Colonial Heights work?
13% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Richmond (11%, 19 mi), Petersburg (5%, 4 mi), Hopewell (2%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Colonial Heights walkable?
Colonial Heights is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.5 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Colonial Heights without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Colonial Heights, from the people who make the trip.
More of Colonial Heights
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.