Vale School-Community House · Photo: JERRYE & ROY KLOTZ MD · CC BY-SA 3.0Difficult Run’s household incomes are among the highest in the country
Household incomes here are among the highest in the country. Below the poverty line: 1.4% of residents; Virginia has 9.9%. Difficult Run grades A+ for jobs and income and B for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Difficult Run apart
A lot of Difficult Run works from home
37% of Difficult Run workers work from home, against 18% across Virginia. Time on the road ↓
Most jobs here, and most residents’ jobs, pay over $40,000
80% of Difficult Run’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, the top earnings band in the Census data, and so do 82% of the jobs based in Difficult Run. The jobs ↓
Difficult Run is a place people come home to
There are 806 jobs based in Difficult Run, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Difficult Run has about 6,300 people in it, 37% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Short distances, slow trips
Half of Difficult Run’s working residents have a job less than 9 miles away, yet the average commute still takes 30 minutes, longer than the Virginia average of 27. Time on the road ↓
Difficult Run has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Difficult Run went from 566 in 2013 to 806 in 2023, +42%. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Difficult Run
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Difficult Run is among the top U.S. towns, #3 of 253 in Virginia. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Difficult Run’s grade. It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment and job access by car.
The Census reports Difficult Run’s median household income as $250,000+, the top of its scale; the grade ranks it as tied with the 111 other graded places at that ceiling.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Difficult Run stays A+.
Each way, about 30 minutes from Difficult Run
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Difficult Run workers work from home, vs 18% across Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,022 commuters (the 37% 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.
Services make up most of the work in Difficult Run
806 jobs are based in Difficult Run.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Difficult Run, 2013 → 2023: 566 → 806. 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 Difficult Run’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who commutes out of Difficult Run, and who commutes in
On a workday 4,332 residents head out to work, 118 work right here, and 688 people come in from elsewhere.
About 6,300 people are in Difficult Run on a workday afternoon, 37% fewer than live here.
0.18 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
11% of working residents work in Washington
Where Difficult Run clocks in
11% of workers
9% 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.
Miles to work from Difficult Run
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 Difficult Run, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Difficult Run is more walkable than 59% of U.S. towns, #171 of 253 in Virginia. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 5.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 5.7% across Virginia, on an EPA index of 6.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 4,815 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 26% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 2% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 6.5 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 88% 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). 0.0% of Difficult Run households have no vehicle (Virginia 6.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 5% of Difficult Run’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Difficult Run is 6th of 2,722 U.S. towns of 7,000 to 13,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| 4 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| 5 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 6 | Difficult Run VA | 9,938 | $250K | 1.4% | 1.9% | 3% | A+ |
| 7 | Long Grove IL | 8,343 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 8 | Waldwick NJ | 10,252 | $178K | 1.4% | 2.2% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | Belmont VA | 9,729 | $243K | 2.1% | 1.1% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 18 | Long Branch VA | 7,034 | $185K | 1.6% | 2.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 35 | Wakefield VA | 11,930 | $238K | 1.8% | 2.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,722 | 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 Difficult Run, the top three, the last and three more from Virginia.
Difficult Run and its neighbors: 13% work next door
The biggest share goes to Reston (9%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Difficult Run workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Difficult Run | – | A+ | B | 30 min | $250,000+ |
| Oakton | under 2% | A+ | A+ | 29 min | $160,663 |
| Reston | 9% | A | A+ | 26 min | $148,710 |
| Fair Oaks | 4% | A− | A | 27 min | $123,947 |
| Franklin Farm | under 2% | A+ | A | 27 min | $215,544 |
| Wolf Trap | under 2% | A+ | A− | 30 min | $250,000+ |
| Navy | under 2% | A+ | A | 27 min | $238,676 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Difficult Run’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.
- A ceiling on income. The Census stops at $250,000+, so the true median may be higher.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Difficult Run: questions
What is the median household income in Difficult Run?
$250,000+ (Census ACS 2020–24), against $93,170 across Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Difficult Run?
1.4%, against 9.9% across Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Difficult Run?
30 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Virginia and 26 nationally. 37% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Difficult Run work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Washington (11%, 18 mi), Tysons (9%, 6 mi), Reston (9%, 3 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Difficult Run walkable?
Difficult Run is more walkable than 59% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 6.0 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Difficult Run without a car?
5% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. 2% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Difficult Run, from the people who make the trip.
More of Difficult Run
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.