Harriston has 0.1 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Harriston grades B for jobs and income and D− for walkability. Employers in Harriston report 42 jobs, against 414 working residents. Hardly any stay in Harriston for work; outside it, Waynesboro is the main destination (11%, 11 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Harriston at work: what stands out
Harriston is a place people come home to
There are 42 jobs based in Harriston, about one for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Harriston has about 840 people in it, 31% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Harriston workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 37 minutes each way, against 27 across Virginia. Over a year that’s about 284 hours of commuting, 77 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
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 414 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Harriston
On income, poverty and job access, Harriston is better than 63% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Harriston’s grade up ($93,250, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 46% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate.
Unemployment (0.0%) is left out: Harriston’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Harriston could be anywhere from C+ to A.
Harriston quiets down on a workday
On a workday 410 residents head out to work, 4 work right here, and 38 people come in from elsewhere.
About 840 people are in Harriston on a workday afternoon, 31% 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.
About 37 minutes each way, longer than most of Virginia
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Harriston workers work from home, vs 18% across Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 574 commuters (the 12% 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.
Out of Harriston to work: where people go
Where Harriston clocks in
11% of workers
7% 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 kinds of work in Harriston
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Harriston, 2013 → 2023: 7 → 42. 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 Harriston’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Short hops and long hauls from Harriston
About 21% 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.
In Harriston, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Harriston is near the bottom of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Harriston near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 650 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). 3.6% of Harriston households have no vehicle (Virginia 6.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Harriston’s commuters take a bus or train.
Harriston is 944th of 4,312 U.S. towns of 800 to 1,600 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 11 | Great Falls Crossing VA | 1,414 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 18 | Occoquan VA | 1,078 | $134K | 2.1% | 5.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 167 | Kincora VA | 1,008 | $134K | 8.8% | 6.3% | 0% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 942 | Bloomfield Township PA | 1,040 | $91K | 6.1% | 0.4% | 1% | B |
| 943 | Plymouth WI | 1,175 | $86K | 7.8% | 2.1% | <1% | B |
| 944 | Harriston VA | 1,212 | $93K | 8.3% | 0.0% | 1% | B |
| 945 | Cambridge Township PA | 1,422 | $82K | 4.2% | 3.4% | 2% | B |
| 946 | Barnard VT | 1,000 | $98K | 2.6% | 4.7% | 2% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 4,312 | 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 Harriston, 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 Harriston: questions
What is the median household income in Harriston?
$93,250 (±$18,750) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $93,170 across Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Harriston?
8.3%, against 9.9% across Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Harriston?
37 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Virginia and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Harriston work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Waynesboro (11%, 11 mi), Verona (10%, 10 mi), Harrisonburg (7%, 16 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Harriston walkable?
Harriston is near the bottom of U.S. towns (Walkability D−): an EPA walkability index of 3.0 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Harriston without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Harriston, from the people who make the trip.
More of Harriston
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.