Photo: Mojo Hand · CC BY-SA 4.0There are 3.8 jobs in New Kent for every working resident, and 1,054 people commute in
25% of workers work from home; Virginia has 18%. Employers in New Kent report 1,073 jobs, against 284 working residents. Only 7% work in New Kent itself; outside it, Richmond draws the most (10%, 27 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets New Kent apart on work
New Kent has far more jobs than workers
New Kent has 1,073 jobs, 3.8 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 1,600 people are in town, 99% more than the 800 who live here. Day and night ↓
Nearly all the work in New Kent is services
99% of the jobs based here are in services, such as health care, schools and offices. Only 1% are in factories, building or farms. The jobs ↓
New Kent’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside New Kent is Richmond, 27 miles away as the crow flies. 10% of working residents (27) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
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; with 284 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
New Kent nearly doubles on a workday
On a workday 265 residents head out to work and 19 work right here.
About 1,600 people are in New Kent on a workday afternoon, 99% more than live here.
3.8 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.
Services make up most of the work in New Kent
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in New Kent, 2013 → 2023: 775 → 1,073. 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 Kent’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where in the region New Kent works
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 trip into New Kent
Where New Kent clocks in
10% of workers
7% of workers
2% 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.
About 32 minutes each way for New Kent’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of New Kent workers work from home, vs 18% across Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 340 commuters (the 25% 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.
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 Kent: questions
What is the median household income in New Kent?
$159,097 (±$28,124) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $93,170 across Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in New Kent?
0.0%, against 9.9% across Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from New Kent?
32 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Virginia and 26 nationally. 25% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in New Kent work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Richmond (10%, 27 mi), Williamsburg (7%, 22 mi), Sandston (2%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around New Kent 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 Kent, from the people who make the trip.
More of New Kent
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.