Harnsberger Octagonal Barn · Photo: Jack Boucher · Public domainGrottoes has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.3 for each
381 jobs are based in Grottoes; 1,503 of its residents have a job. For jobs and income Grottoes is better than 58% of U.S. towns (B); for walkability it is more walkable than 11% of U.S. towns (D). 3% of workers have no commute at all, where Virginia as a whole has 18%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Grottoes
Few Grottoes workers work from home
Only 3% of workers work from home, against 18% across Virginia. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Grottoes
59% of Grottoes residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 35% of the jobs based in Grottoes pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 98% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Stores, warehouses and trucking
48% of the jobs in Grottoes are in trade, transport and utilities, against 24% of the jobs its residents hold. The jobs ↓
Grottoes is a place people come home to
There are 381 jobs based in Grottoes, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Grottoes has about 2,000 people in it, 36% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
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.
Inside Grottoes’ Jobs & income grade
Household income holds Grottoes’ grade up ($100,291, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down (4.8%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Grottoes could be anywhere from C to A.
The trip to work from Grottoes: about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Grottoes workers work from home, vs 18% across Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,665 commuters (the 3% 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.
Jobs in Grottoes: what the 381 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Grottoes, 2013 → 2023: 297 → 381. 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 Grottoes’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Grottoes by day and by night
On a workday 1,467 residents head out to work, 36 work right here, and 345 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,000 people are in Grottoes 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.
22% of working residents work in Harrisonburg
Where Grottoes clocks in
22% of workers
3% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Grottoes
About 22% 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 Grottoes gets around
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 1,723 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). 6.3% of Grottoes households have no vehicle (Virginia 6.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Grottoes’ commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Grottoes is 1,816th of 4,562 U.S. towns of 2,200 to 4,200
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6 | Sully Square VA | 2,394 | $176K | 0.8% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 12 | One Loudoun VA | 3,309 | $241K | 0.9% | 0.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 27 | Oak Grove VA | 2,408 | $174K | 0.6% | 2.5% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,814 | Carthage TN | 2,282 | $67K | 8.3% | 1.3% | 11% | B |
| 1,815 | Plainview TN | 2,263 | $64K | 10.7% | 2.1% | 1% | B |
| 1,816 | Grottoes VA | 3,099 | $100K | 9.0% | 4.8% | 2% | B |
| 1,817 | Grant Township IN | 3,156 | $80K | 8.4% | 4.7% | 9% | B |
| 1,818 | East Brookfield MA | 2,231 | $81K | 7.1% | 5.1% | 6% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 4,562 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Grottoes, the top three, the last and three more from Virginia.
Grottoes and its neighbors
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Grottoes workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grottoes | – | B | D | 24 min | $100,291 |
| Port Republic | under 2% | — | — | 22 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Port Republic: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Grottoes’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 Grottoes: questions
What is the median household income in Grottoes?
$100,291 (±$15,489) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $93,170 across Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Grottoes?
9.0%, against 9.9% across Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Grottoes?
24 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Virginia and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Grottoes work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Harrisonburg (22%, 12 mi), Waynesboro (3%, 15 mi), Verona (3%, 11 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Grottoes walkable?
Grottoes is more walkable than 11% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 5.6 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Grottoes 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 Grottoes, from the people who make the trip.
More of Grottoes
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.