Photo: Robshenk · CC BY-SA 3.0Unemployment in Mechanicsville (1.9%) is lower than in 86% of U.S. towns
Household incomes here are higher than in 76% of U.S. towns. For jobs and income Mechanicsville is better than 93% of U.S. towns (A); for walkability it is more walkable than 32% of U.S. towns (C). About one in ten work in Mechanicsville; the top destination outside it is Richmond (17%, 10 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Mechanicsville in brief
Mechanicsville trades workers with the towns around it
Mechanicsville has about as many jobs (20,445) as working residents (19,497), but they are mostly different people: 17,344 residents leave for work each day while 18,292 people come in. Only 11% of the jobs in Mechanicsville are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Mechanicsville draws workers from far and wide
The 20,445 jobs in Mechanicsville are filled from a wide area. Mechanicsville’s own residents hold 11% and the ten next-biggest home towns 20%; the other 69% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Mechanicsville and Richmond trade workers both ways
Richmond is the top workplace for Mechanicsville residents (17%) and also where the most people who work in Mechanicsville come from (10% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
How Mechanicsville earns its Jobs & income grade
All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Mechanicsville’s grade. It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Mechanicsville could be anywhere from A to A+.
The daily commute in and out of Mechanicsville
On a workday 17,344 residents head out to work, 2,153 work right here, and 18,292 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.05 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
The places Mechanicsville commutes to
Where Mechanicsville clocks in
17% of workers
5% of workers
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.
The 20,445 jobs based in Mechanicsville
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Mechanicsville, 2014 → 2024: 16,099 → 20,445. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Mechanicsville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Mechanicsville spends getting to work: 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 Mechanicsville workers work from home, vs 18% across Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 16,206 commuters (the 18% 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.
The distance from Mechanicsville 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Few in Mechanicsville walk, bike or ride to work
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.5% 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 19,787 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). 4.1% of Mechanicsville households have no vehicle (Virginia 6.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Mechanicsville’s commuters take a bus or train.
123rd of 1,113: where Mechanicsville ranks among U.S. towns of 27,000 to 52,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 2 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 3 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 8 | Oakton VA | 36,528 | $161K | 4.6% | 1.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | Short Pump VA | 29,026 | $139K | 3.6% | 1.7% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 121 | Cornelius NC | 35,094 | $114K | 5.4% | 2.4% | 9% | A |
| 122 | Violet Township OH | 50,908 | $122K | 3.4% | 3.6% | 10% | A |
| 123 | Mechanicsville VA | 38,683 | $99K | 5.2% | 1.9% | 11% | A |
| 124 | Bethel Park PA | 32,074 | $107K | 4.0% | 2.8% | 10% | A |
| 125 | Fruit Cove FL | 35,877 | $142K | 2.7% | 2.8% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,113 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 25% | 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 Mechanicsville, the top three, the last and three more from Virginia.
Next door to Mechanicsville
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Mechanicsville workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mechanicsville | – | A | C | 24 min | $98,595 |
| East Highland Park | under 2% | C+ | B+ | 24 min | $64,681 |
| Chamberlayne | under 2% | A− | C− | 23 min | $97,544 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Mechanicsville’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 2024, 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 Mechanicsville: questions
What is the median household income in Mechanicsville?
$98,595 (±$8,537) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $93,170 across Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Mechanicsville?
5.2%, against 9.9% across Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Mechanicsville?
24 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Virginia and 26 nationally. 18% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Mechanicsville work?
11% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Richmond (17%, 10 mi), Ashland (5%, 11 mi), Innsbrook (4%, 12 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Mechanicsville walkable?
Mechanicsville is more walkable than 32% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 7.1 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Mechanicsville 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 Mechanicsville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Mechanicsville
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.