Photo: wikipedia inglesa · CC BY-SA 3.0Manchester has 1.9 jobs for every working resident: 10,941 people commute in to work
Only 4% work in Manchester itself; outside it, Richmond draws the most (24%, 5 miles). 11,181 jobs are based in Manchester for 5,809 working residents. Manchester grades B− for jobs and income and C+ for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Manchester at work: what stands out
Manchester draws workers from far and wide
The 11,181 jobs in Manchester are filled from a wide area. The ten biggest home towns of its workers supply 26%; the other 72% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Manchester is where the jobs are
Manchester has 11,181 jobs, 1.9 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 18,000 people are in town, 43% more than the 12,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
Manchester and Richmond trade workers both ways
Richmond is the top workplace for Manchester residents (24%) and also where the most people who work in Manchester come from (14% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Commutes from Manchester are quick
The average trip to work takes 22 minutes, against 27 across Virginia. That’s about 38 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.
What’s behind Manchester’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Manchester is better than 51% of U.S. towns, #178 of 253 in Virginia. Job access by car holds Manchester’s grade up (ahead of 88% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (6.4%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Manchester could be anywhere from C to A.
Who travels to work in Manchester, and from where
Where Manchester clocks in
24% 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.
Manchester on a workday afternoon
On a workday 5,569 residents head out to work and 240 work right here.
About 18,000 people are in Manchester on a workday afternoon, 43% more 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.
The daily trip from Manchester: about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Manchester workers work from home, vs 18% across Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,549 commuters (the 21% 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.
Health, schools and offices: most of the jobs in Manchester
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Manchester, 2013 → 2023: 9,333 → 11,181. 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 Manchester’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The distance from Manchester to work
About 17% 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 Manchester, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Manchester is more walkable than 40% of U.S. towns, #211 of 253 in Virginia. 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 7,059 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 20% 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 3.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 76% 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). 2.8% of Manchester households have no vehicle (Virginia 6.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Manchester’s commuters take a bus or train.
Manchester places 1,422nd of 2,354 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 9,000 to 17,000
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,420 | Bethalto IL | 9,202 | $65K | 12.3% | 4.0% | 8% | B− |
| 1,421 | Hackettstown NJ | 10,185 | $93K | 9.4% | 8.2% | 10% | B− |
| 1,422 | Manchester VA | 12,445 | $80K | 12.7% | 6.4% | 4% | B− |
| 1,423 | Plainfield CT | 15,381 | $77K | 8.7% | 4.4% | 15% | B− |
| 1,424 | Rostraver Township PA | 11,455 | $73K | 13.7% | 3.6% | 9% | 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 Manchester, the top three, the last and three more from Virginia.
Work next door: 27% of Manchester’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Manchester workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manchester | – | B− | C+ | 22 min | $80,296 |
| Richmond | 24% | C+ | A+ | 22 min | $64,587 |
| Rockwood | under 2% | A | C | 24 min | $97,992 |
| Bon Air | 3% | A | B− | 25 min | $101,879 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Richmond. Darker towns draw more of Manchester’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 Manchester: questions
What is the median household income in Manchester?
$80,296 (±$16,938) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $93,170 across Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Manchester?
12.7%, against 9.9% across Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Manchester?
22 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Virginia and 26 nationally. 21% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Manchester work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Richmond (24%, 5 mi), Innsbrook (3%, 12 mi), Bon Air (3%, 2 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Manchester walkable?
Manchester is more walkable than 40% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 8.9 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Manchester without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Manchester, from the people who make the trip.
More of Manchester
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.