Photo: Nyttend · Public domainNew Castle draws 233 commuters a day, with 4.3 jobs for every working resident
7% of workers work from home, next to 18% for Virginia as a whole. Employers in New Castle report 236 jobs, and 55 of its residents work somewhere. Only 5% stay in New Castle for work; outside it, Roanoke is the main destination (27%, 18 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
How a workday changes New Castle
On a workday 52 residents head out to work and 3 work right here.
About 300 people are in New Castle on a workday afternoon, 151% 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 into New Castle
Where New Castle clocks in
27% of workers
9% 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 kinds of work in New Castle
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in New Castle, 2013 → 2023: 149 → 236. 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 New Castle’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Time on the road from New Castle: about 29 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of New Castle workers work from home, vs 18% across Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 68 commuters (the 7% 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.
New Castle’s commute, mile by mile
About 25% 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.
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 New Castle: questions
What is the median household income in New Castle?
$77,083 (±$45,661) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $93,170 across Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in New Castle?
8.0%, against 9.9% across Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from New Castle?
29 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Virginia and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in New Castle work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Roanoke (27%, 18 mi), Salem (9%, 15 mi), Newport News (4%, 200 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around New Castle without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from New Castle, from the people who make the trip.
More of New Castle
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.