Photo: ChrisalaneJonesWiki · CC BY-SA 4.0Fewer people are out of work in Louisa (1.9%) than in 86% of U.S. towns
Working from home is the commute for 10% of workers; Virginia has 18%. Louisa grades B− for jobs and income and B− for walkability. About one in ten stay in Louisa for work; outside it, Charlottesville is the main destination (4%, 26 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Louisa stands out on work
Jobs & income in Louisa: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Louisa is better than 49% of U.S. towns. Unemployment holds Louisa’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 27% of U.S. towns).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Louisa could be anywhere from C− to B+.
Who leaves Louisa for work, and who comes in
On a workday 713 residents head out to work, 76 work right here, and 1,131 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,700 people are in Louisa on a workday afternoon, 19% more than live here.
1.5 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Who travels to work in Louisa, and from where
Where Louisa clocks in
4% 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 work there is in Louisa: 1,207 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Louisa, 2013 → 2023: 1,287 → 1,207. 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 Louisa’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Louisa, about 29 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Louisa workers work from home, vs 18% across Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,028 commuters (the 10% 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.
Miles to work from Louisa
About 29% 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 Louisa gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Louisa is more walkable than 50% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Louisa 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 1,145 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). 6.8% of Louisa households have no vehicle (Virginia 6.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Louisa’s commuters take a bus or train.
Louisa places 2,210th of 5,102 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 1,600 to 3,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 10 | Sully Square VA | 2,394 | $176K | 0.8% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 21 | Oak Grove VA | 2,408 | $174K | 0.6% | 2.5% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 54 | Mason Neck VA | 2,039 | $168K | 1.1% | 2.3% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,208 | Great Bend Township PA | 1,682 | $81K | 8.2% | 5.5% | 9% | B− |
| 2,209 | Lakeside MT | 2,386 | $77K | 10.9% | 2.0% | 13% | B− |
| 2,210 | Louisa VA | 2,244 | $65K | 9.9% | 1.9% | 10% | B− |
| 2,211 | Fayetteville WV | 2,721 | $68K | 10.3% | 2.1% | 17% | B− |
| 2,212 | Lincoln Township MI | 2,134 | $73K | 7.0% | 2.1% | 1% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,102 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Louisa, 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 Louisa: questions
What is the median household income in Louisa?
$65,132 (±$14,719) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $93,170 across Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Louisa?
9.9%, against 9.9% across Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Louisa?
29 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Virginia and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Louisa work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Charlottesville (4%, 26 mi), University of Virginia (3%, 28 mi), Pantops (3%, 24 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Louisa walkable?
Louisa is more walkable than 50% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 6.8 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Louisa without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Louisa, from the people who make the trip.
More of Louisa
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.