St. Paul's Church · Photo: Pubdog · Public domainThere are 2.4 jobs in Dahlgren for every working resident, and 2,201 people commute in
Household incomes here are higher than in 84% of U.S. towns. There are 2,278 jobs in Dahlgren, and 951 of its residents work somewhere. Dahlgren grades B for jobs and income and C− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Dahlgren stands out on work
Inside Dahlgren’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Dahlgren is better than 63% of U.S. towns, #157 of 253 in Virginia. Household income holds Dahlgren’s grade up ($110,057, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 22% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Dahlgren could be anywhere from C to A.
A workday in Dahlgren: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 874 residents head out to work and 77 work right here.
About 4,700 people are in Dahlgren on a workday afternoon, 40% more than live here.
2.4 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
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 Dahlgren’s workforce comes from
Where Dahlgren clocks in
7% 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.
Health, schools and offices: most of the jobs in Dahlgren
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Dahlgren, 2013 → 2023: 2,000 → 2,278. 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 Dahlgren’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Dahlgren spends getting to work: about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Dahlgren workers work from home, vs 18% across Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,479 commuters (the 17% 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.
How many miles Dahlgren commutes
About 19% 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.
Most trips from Dahlgren start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Dahlgren is more walkable than 24% of U.S. towns, #232 of 253 in Virginia. Both inputs place Dahlgren 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 1,773 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). 1.7% of Dahlgren households have no vehicle (Virginia 6.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Dahlgren’s commuters take a bus or train.
Dahlgren is 1,590th of 4,593 U.S. towns of 2,300 to 4,500 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 7 | Sully Square VA | 2,394 | $176K | 0.8% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | One Loudoun VA | 3,309 | $241K | 0.9% | 0.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 32 | Oak Grove VA | 2,408 | $174K | 0.6% | 2.5% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,588 | Erie Township MI | 4,348 | $71K | 15.6% | 1.4% | 4% | B |
| 1,589 | Rome WI | 3,420 | $80K | 4.7% | 2.2% | 13% | B |
| 1,590 | Dahlgren VA | 3,350 | $110K | 8.1% | 3.1% | 8% | B |
| 1,591 | Biscayne Park FL | 3,062 | $77K | 29.5% | 2.2% | 3% | B |
| 1,592 | National Park NJ | 3,088 | $83K | 9.0% | 6.1% | 2% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 4,593 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Dahlgren, the top three, the last and three more from Virginia.
The towns around Dahlgren
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Dahlgren workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dahlgren | – | B | C− | 26 min | $110,057 |
| Dahlgren Center | under 2% | — | — | 15 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Dahlgren Center: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Dahlgren’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 Dahlgren: questions
What is the median household income in Dahlgren?
$110,057 (±$20,487) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $93,170 across Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Dahlgren?
8.1%, against 9.9% across Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Dahlgren?
26 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Virginia and 26 nationally. 17% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Dahlgren work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Washington (7%, 39 mi), King George (4%, 8 mi), Arlington (4%, 37 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Dahlgren walkable?
Dahlgren is more walkable than 24% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 5.9 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Dahlgren without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Dahlgren, from the people who make the trip.
More of Dahlgren
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.