Photo: Ser Amantio di Nicolao · CC BY-SA 3.0Dranesville has some of the highest household incomes of any U.S. town
Dranesville grades A+ for jobs and income and A− for walkability. Measured by household income, Dranesville is among the highest-earning towns in the country. The poverty rate is 2.8% (Virginia 9.9%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Dranesville, in brief
Home offices are common in Dranesville
40% of Dranesville workers work from home, against 18% across Virginia. Time on the road ↓
Dranesville has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Dranesville went from 527 in 2013 to 917 in 2023, +74%. The jobs ↓
Dranesville is a place people come home to
There are 917 jobs based in Dranesville, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Dranesville has about 7,100 people in it, 40% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Three in four Dranesville workers earn over $40,000 a year
79% of Dranesville’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. 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.
Why Dranesville gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Dranesville is better than 97% of U.S. towns, #33 of 253 in Virginia. Household income is its strongest input ($214,688, U.S. $80,734); unemployment ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (3.5%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Dranesville could be anywhere from A to A+.
About 29 minutes each way, about the VA average
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Dranesville workers work from home, vs 18% across Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,556 commuters (the 40% 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.
69% of the jobs in Dranesville pay over $3,333 a month
917 jobs are based in Dranesville.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Dranesville, 2013 → 2023: 527 → 917. 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 Dranesville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The workday shuffle in and out of Dranesville
On a workday 5,508 residents head out to work, 116 work right here, and 801 people come in from elsewhere.
About 7,100 people are in Dranesville on a workday afternoon, 40% fewer than live here.
0.16 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 Reston
Where Dranesville clocks in
9% of workers
8% 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 commute from Dranesville, by distance
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.
Dranesville is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Dranesville is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns, #108 of 253 in Virginia. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 3.5% 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 5,895 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 64% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 4.5 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 82% 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). 1.4% of Dranesville households have no vehicle (Virginia 6.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Dranesville’s commuters take a bus or train.
Dranesville next to U.S. towns of 8,000 to 16,000: 122nd of 2,695 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6 | Difficult Run VA | 9,938 | $250K | 1.4% | 1.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 16 | Belmont VA | 9,729 | $243K | 2.1% | 1.1% | 2% | A+ |
| 17 | Wolf Trap VA | 15,858 | $250K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 120 | White Bear Township MN | 10,399 | $129K | 2.3% | 3.2% | 2% | A+ |
| 121 | Dunn Loring VA | 8,957 | $244K | 5.1% | 3.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 122 | Dranesville VA | 11,828 | $215K | 2.8% | 3.5% | 2% | A+ |
| 123 | Bothell East WA | 14,578 | $199K | 3.6% | 2.8% | 1% | A+ |
| 124 | Ramsey NJ | 14,925 | $161K | 4.3% | 3.2% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,695 | Roma TX | 11,543 | $25K | 37.1% | 12.4% | 22% | 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 Dranesville, the top three, the last and three more from Virginia.
Next door is work for 15% of Dranesville
The biggest share goes to Reston (11%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Dranesville workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dranesville | – | A+ | A− | 29 min | $214,688 |
| Reston | 11% | A | A+ | 26 min | $148,710 |
| Herndon | 4% | A | A+ | 28 min | $148,000 |
| Great Falls | under 3% | A+ | B | 34 min | $250,000+ |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Dranesville’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 Dranesville: questions
What is the median household income in Dranesville?
$214,688 (±$13,980) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $93,170 across Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Dranesville?
2.8%, against 9.9% across Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Dranesville?
29 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Virginia and 26 nationally. 40% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Dranesville work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Reston (11%, 3 mi), Tysons (9%, 9 mi), Washington (8%, 20 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Dranesville walkable?
Dranesville is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 9.6 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Dranesville without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Dranesville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Dranesville
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.