Photo: Doug Kerr (Flickr user Dougtone) · CC BY-SA 2.0Fries has 0.2 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Only 1% stay in Fries for work; outside it, Galax is the main destination (29%, 5 miles). 35 jobs are based in Fries; 193 of its residents have a job. Working from home is the commute for 0% of workers, 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
Fries on a workday afternoon
On a workday 191 residents head out to work, 2 work right here, and 33 people come in from elsewhere.
About 290 people are in Fries on a workday afternoon, 36% 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.
Out of Fries to work: where people go
Where Fries clocks in
29% of workers
7% 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.
What Fries’ employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fries, 2013 → 2023: 44 → 35. 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 Fries’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 23 minutes in Fries
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fries workers work from home, vs 18% across Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 97 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.
Where in the region Fries works
About 24% 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 Fries: questions
What is the median household income in Fries?
$33,056 (±$6,456) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $93,170 across Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fries?
17.0%, against 9.9% across Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fries?
23 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Virginia and 26 nationally. 0% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fries work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Galax (29%, 5 mi), Independence (7%, 11 mi), Hillsville (5%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Fries without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Fries, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fries
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.