Photo: Rutke421 23:17, 9 August 2008 (UTC) · Public domainUnemployment in Orange (6.7%) is higher than in 80% of U.S. towns
11% of workers work from home, next to 18% for Virginia as a whole. For jobs and income Orange is better than 29% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns (B+). About one in five work in Orange itself; outside it, Culpeper draws the most (5%, 17 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Orange and work: the main findings
No single place dominates Orange’s commute
The biggest draw, Culpeper, gets only 5% of working residents, and 59% work outside the top ten towns entirely. Orange residents fan out across the region. The commute map ↓
Orange is where the jobs are
Orange has 3,592 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Orange are quick
The average trip to work takes 20 minutes, against 27 across Virginia. That’s about 54 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.
The figures behind Orange’s Jobs & income grade
Household income holds Orange’s grade up ($76,370, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Orange could be anywhere from D to A−.
Who travels to work in Orange, and from where
Where Orange clocks in
5% of workers
5% 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 daily flow of workers through Orange
On a workday 1,641 residents head out to work, 445 work right here, and 3,147 people come in from elsewhere.
About 6,900 people are in Orange on a workday afternoon, 28% more than live here.
1.7 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.
The daily trip from Orange: about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Orange workers work from home, vs 18% across Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,155 commuters (the 11% 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 3,592 jobs based in Orange
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Orange, 2013 → 2023: 3,843 → 3,592. 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 Orange’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute from Orange, by distance
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.
The commute in Orange is mostly behind the wheel
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,423 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). 8.2% of Orange households have no vehicle (Virginia 6.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Orange’s commuters take a bus or train.
2,608th of 3,488: where Orange ranks among U.S. towns of 3,800 to 7,200
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6 | Pimmit Hills VA | 6,589 | $173K | 1.6% | 1.3% | 3% | A+ |
| 7 | Braddock VA | 6,536 | $212K | 0.9% | 1.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 21 | South Run VA | 6,600 | $250K | 2.1% | 1.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,606 | Chippewa Township MI | 4,668 | $65K | 16.4% | 4.4% | 18% | C |
| 2,607 | Tyrone PA | 5,226 | $57K | 11.5% | 5.8% | 13% | C |
| 2,608 | Orange VA | 5,365 | $76K | 14.1% | 6.7% | 21% | C |
| 2,609 | Tupper Lake NY | 5,056 | $65K | 17.4% | 2.1% | 40% | C |
| 2,610 | Derby VT | 4,456 | $80K | 7.4% | 8.5% | 27% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 3,488 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Orange, 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 Orange: questions
What is the median household income in Orange?
$76,370 (±$19,654) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $93,170 across Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Orange?
14.1%, against 9.9% across Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Orange?
20 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Virginia and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Orange work?
21% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Culpeper (5%, 17 mi), Charlottesville (5%, 25 mi), University of Virginia (2%, 27 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Orange walkable?
Orange is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.0 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Orange without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Orange, from the people who make the trip.
More of Orange
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.