Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0Dryden has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.4 for each
For 0% of workers, the job is at home (Virginia 18%). There are 139 jobs in Dryden, against 328 working residents. Only 2% work in Dryden itself; outside it, Big Stone Gap draws the most (6%, 11 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Dryden: the gist
Time on the road from Dryden: about 27 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Dryden workers work from home, vs 18% across Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 235 commuters (the 0% 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.
Dryden by day and by night
On a workday 323 residents head out to work, 5 work right here, and 134 people come in from elsewhere.
About 630 people are in Dryden on a workday afternoon, 23% fewer 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 people from Dryden work
Where Dryden clocks in
6% of workers
5% 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.
In Dryden, 52% of jobs are in factories, building or farming
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Dryden, 2013 → 2023: 31 → 139. 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 Dryden’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute from Dryden, by distance
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.
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 Dryden: questions
What is the median household income in Dryden?
$55,156 (±$18,210) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $93,170 across Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Dryden?
30.4%, against 9.9% across Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Dryden?
27 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Virginia and 26 nationally. 0% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Dryden work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Big Stone Gap (6%, 11 mi), Pennington Gap (5%, 5 mi), Wise (5%, 24 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Dryden without a car?
4% of commuters take transit and 14% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Dryden, from the people who make the trip.
More of Dryden
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.