Photo: Nyttend · Public domainHousehold incomes in Glasgow are lower than in 86% of U.S. towns
Working from home is the commute for 2% of workers; Virginia has 18%. Poverty touches 15.5% of residents, next to 9.9% for Virginia as a whole. Jobs and income earn Glasgow D; getting around on foot earns it C.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The short version on getting to work from Glasgow
Glasgow makes and builds things
85% of the jobs based in Glasgow are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Glasgow residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 28%. The jobs ↓
Few Glasgow workers work from home
Only 2% of workers work from home, against 18% across Virginia. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Glasgow than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Glasgow fell from 968 in 2013 to 649 in 2023, −33%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. 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; with 441 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Glasgow
On income, poverty and job access, Glasgow is better than 11% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Glasgow’s grade.
Unemployment (3.5%) is left out: Glasgow’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Glasgow could be anywhere from D− to C.
Making and building: 85% of jobs based in Glasgow
649 jobs are based in Glasgow.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Glasgow, 2013 → 2023: 968 → 649. 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 Glasgow’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Glasgow’s commute takes about 35 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Glasgow workers work from home, vs 18% across Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 473 commuters (the 2% 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.
In and out of Glasgow on a workday
On a workday 399 residents head out to work, 42 work right here, and 607 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,300 people are in Glasgow on a workday afternoon, 20% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.47 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
13% of working residents work in Lexington
Where Glasgow clocks in
13% of workers
11% 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.
How far Glasgow’s workers travel
About 27% 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.
Driving is how Glasgow gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Glasgow is more walkable than 28% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 2.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 5.7% across Virginia, on an EPA index of 4.6.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 484 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). 13.7% of Glasgow households have no vehicle (Virginia 6.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Glasgow’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 700 to 1,400, Glasgow ranks 2,511th of 3,133 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | Occoquan VA | 1,078 | $134K | 2.1% | 5.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 110 | Kincora VA | 1,008 | $134K | 8.8% | 6.3% | 0% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 178 | Ruckersville VA | 1,399 | $102K | 0.0% | 0.0% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,509 | Remerton GA | 1,291 | $27K | 41.3% | 5.5% | 1% | D |
| 2,510 | Bowman ND | 1,357 | $63K | 15.5% | 2.7% | 42% | D |
| 2,511 | Glasgow VA | 1,049 | $52K | 15.5% | 3.5% | 10% | D |
| 2,512 | Iron River Township MI | 1,052 | $56K | 12.1% | 6.7% | 4% | D |
| 2,513 | West Yellowstone MT | 1,191 | $59K | 13.1% | 2.3% | 58% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,133 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Glasgow, the top three, the last and three more from Virginia.
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 Glasgow: questions
What is the median household income in Glasgow?
$51,827 (±$13,816) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $93,170 across Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Glasgow?
15.5%, against 9.9% across Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Glasgow?
35 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Virginia and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Glasgow work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lexington (13%, 10 mi), Buena Vista (11%, 9 mi), Roanoke (5%, 37 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Glasgow walkable?
Glasgow is more walkable than 28% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 4.6 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Glasgow without a car?
0% 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 Glasgow, from the people who make the trip.
More of Glasgow
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.