Photo: Taber Andrew Bain · CC BY 2.0Pearisburg has 1.9 jobs for every working resident: 2,067 people commute in to work
There are 2,269 jobs in Pearisburg; 1,190 of its residents have a job. For jobs and income Pearisburg is better than 33% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 23% of U.S. towns (C−). At home: 2% of workers have no commute at all (Virginia 18%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Pearisburg and work: the main findings
Pearisburg is where the jobs are
Pearisburg has 2,269 jobs, 1.9 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Few Pearisburg workers work from home
Only 2% of workers work from home, against 18% across Virginia. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
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.
Pearisburg’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
Unemployment holds Pearisburg’s grade up (4.2%, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 13% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Pearisburg could be anywhere from D to B+.
Pearisburg fills up on a workday
On a workday 988 residents head out to work and 202 work right here.
About 4,000 people are in Pearisburg on a workday afternoon, 38% 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 2024, primary jobs.
Commuting from Pearisburg: about 26 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Pearisburg workers work from home, vs 18% across Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,131 commuters (the 2% 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.
Where Pearisburg’s workers come from
Where Pearisburg clocks in
15% 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.
What Pearisburg’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Pearisburg, 2014 → 2024: 1,782 → 2,269. 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 Pearisburg’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Pearisburg’s commute, mile by mile
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.
Driving is how Pearisburg gets around
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 1,152 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). 5.1% of Pearisburg households have no vehicle (Virginia 6.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Pearisburg’s commuters take a bus or train.
Pearisburg next to U.S. towns of 2,000 to 3,900: 3,175th of 4,882 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 8 | Sully Square VA | 2,394 | $176K | 0.8% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | One Loudoun VA | 3,309 | $241K | 0.9% | 0.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 28 | Oak Grove VA | 2,408 | $174K | 0.6% | 2.5% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,173 | Kimball NE | 2,271 | $56K | 14.9% | 0.0% | 47% | C |
| 3,174 | Hennessey OK | 2,207 | $70K | 16.3% | 3.0% | 30% | C |
| 3,175 | Pearisburg VA | 2,873 | $76K | 11.9% | 4.2% | 17% | C |
| 3,176 | Hornellsville NY | 3,892 | $73K | 8.4% | 6.3% | 13% | C |
| 3,177 | Pittsford VT | 2,859 | $70K | 11.3% | 4.2% | 11% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 4,882 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 0% | 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 Pearisburg, 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 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 Pearisburg: questions
What is the median household income in Pearisburg?
$75,532 (±$9,892) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $93,170 across Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Pearisburg?
11.9%, against 9.9% across Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Pearisburg?
26 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Virginia and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Pearisburg work?
17% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Blacksburg (15%, 18 mi), Christiansburg (5%, 22 mi), Roanoke (4%, 42 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Pearisburg walkable?
Pearisburg is more walkable than 23% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 7.0 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Pearisburg without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Pearisburg, from the people who make the trip.
More of Pearisburg
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.