Photo: Skye Marthaler · CC BY-SA 3.0Most of Narrows commutes out: there are 0.3 jobs for every working resident
Jobs and income earn Narrows C; getting around on foot earns it B+. 252 jobs are based in Narrows for 800 working residents. Home is the office for 6% of workers, against 18% across Virginia.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Narrows apart
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Narrows
On income, poverty and job access, Narrows is better than 33% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Narrows’ grade up (7.1%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 17% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (1.3%) is left out: Narrows’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Narrows could be anywhere from C− to B−.
How far it is to work from Narrows
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.
The daily commute in and out of Narrows
On a workday 787 residents head out to work, 13 work right here, and 239 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,500 people are in Narrows on a workday afternoon, 27% 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.
15% of working residents work in Blacksburg
Where Narrows clocks in
15% of workers
14% of workers
6% 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.
Jobs in Narrows: what the 252 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Narrows, 2013 → 2023: 238 → 252. 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 Narrows’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Narrows takes about 28 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Narrows workers work from home, vs 18% across Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 733 commuters (the 6% 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.
For most of Narrows, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Narrows is more walkable than 74% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Narrows 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 780 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). 2.8% of Narrows households have no vehicle (Virginia 6.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Narrows’ commuters take a bus or train.
3,236th of 5,509: where Narrows ranks among U.S. towns of 1,400 to 2,700
| # | 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 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 11 | Great Falls Crossing VA | 1,414 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.7% | 1% | A+ |
| 12 | Sully Square VA | 2,394 | $176K | 0.8% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 24 | Oak Grove VA | 2,408 | $174K | 0.6% | 2.5% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,234 | Victory Gardens NJ | 1,596 | $63K | 26.5% | 6.7% | <1% | C |
| 3,235 | Somerville TX | 1,517 | $66K | 12.3% | 1.8% | 6% | C |
| 3,236 | Narrows VA | 2,036 | $63K | 7.1% | 1.3% | 2% | C |
| 3,237 | Cynthian Township OH | 2,008 | $65K | 24.4% | 3.3% | 1% | C |
| 3,238 | Freedom Township OH | 2,678 | $71K | 17.9% | 7.5% | 2% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 5,509 | 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 Narrows, 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 Narrows: questions
What is the median household income in Narrows?
$62,708 (±$5,812) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $93,170 across Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Narrows?
7.1%, against 9.9% across Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Narrows?
28 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Virginia and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Narrows work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Blacksburg (15%, 22 mi), Pearisburg (14%, 4 mi), Christiansburg (6%, 26 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Narrows walkable?
Narrows is more walkable than 74% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.8 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Narrows without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Narrows, from the people who make the trip.
More of Narrows
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.