Emmanuel Church at Brook Hill · Photo: Crazyale · CC BY-SA 3.0At 1.6%, unemployment in Lakeside is lower than in 89% of U.S. towns
The average commute takes 20 minutes each way, next to 27 for Virginia and 26 for the U.S. The two grades for Lakeside are B+ for jobs and income and B for walkability. Only 2% work in Lakeside itself; outside it, Richmond draws the most (22%, 6 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Lakeside: the gist
Lakeside and Richmond trade workers both ways
Richmond is the top workplace for Lakeside residents (22%) and also where the most people who work in Lakeside come from (13% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Most Lakeside residents work close to home
66% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. How far ↓
Commutes from Lakeside are quick
The average trip to work takes 20 minutes, against 27 across Virginia. That’s about 54 hours a year less on the road than the typical Virginia 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.
Income, poverty and work: Lakeside’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Lakeside is better than 74% of U.S. towns, #128 of 253 in Virginia. Job access by car holds Lakeside’s grade up (ahead of 90% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (11.8%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Lakeside could be anywhere from B to A.
Out of Lakeside to work: where people go
Where Lakeside clocks in
22% of workers
4% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Lakeside
About 16% 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.
About 20 minutes each way, quicker than most of Virginia
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lakeside workers work from home, vs 18% across Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,323 commuters (the 24% 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.
A workday in Lakeside: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 5,755 residents head out to work, 110 work right here, and 4,360 people come in from elsewhere.
About 11,000 people are in Lakeside on a workday afternoon, 11% fewer than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.76 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.
66% of the jobs in Lakeside pay over $3,333 a month
4,470 jobs are based in Lakeside.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lakeside, 2013 → 2023: 5,517 → 4,470. 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 Lakeside’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In Lakeside, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Lakeside is more walkable than 58% of U.S. towns, #176 of 253 in Virginia. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.4% of 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 6,986 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 13% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 2.2 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 70% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 7.4% of Lakeside households have no vehicle (Virginia 6.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Lakeside’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 9,000 to 17,000, Lakeside ranks 887th of 2,354 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5 | Difficult Run VA | 9,938 | $250K | 1.4% | 1.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | Belmont VA | 9,729 | $243K | 2.1% | 1.1% | 2% | A+ |
| 14 | Wolf Trap VA | 15,858 | $250K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 885 | Vincent CA | 15,340 | $100K | 6.7% | 6.6% | 1% | B+ |
| 886 | Geddes NY | 16,579 | $77K | 4.6% | 4.2% | 7% | B+ |
| 887 | Lakeside VA | 12,654 | $72K | 11.8% | 1.6% | 2% | B+ |
| 888 | Edgewater NJ | 15,499 | $124K | 7.7% | 8.0% | 4% | B+ |
| 889 | Plumas Lake CA | 9,418 | $120K | 4.5% | 4.7% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,354 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Lakeside, the top three, the last and three more from Virginia.
Next door is work for 26% of Lakeside
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
The biggest share goes to Richmond. Darker towns draw more of Lakeside’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 Lakeside: questions
What is the median household income in Lakeside?
$72,032 (±$12,553) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $93,170 across Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lakeside?
11.8%, against 9.9% across Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lakeside?
20 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Virginia and 26 nationally. 24% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lakeside work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Richmond (22%, 6 mi), Innsbrook (4%, 6 mi), Laurel (3%, 2 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lakeside walkable?
Lakeside is more walkable than 58% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.5 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lakeside without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lakeside, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lakeside
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.