Photo: Nyttend · Public domainPembroke has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.2 for each
2% of workers have no commute at all, against 18% across Virginia. 110 jobs are based in Pembroke for 443 working residents. For jobs and income Pembroke is better than 22% of U.S. towns (C−); for walkability it is more walkable than 54% of U.S. towns (B−).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Pembroke
Pembroke is a place people come home to
There are 110 jobs based in Pembroke, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Pembroke has about 810 people in it, 29% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Few Pembroke 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 ↓
Commutes from Pembroke are quick
The average trip to work takes 21 minutes, against 27 across Virginia. That’s about 46 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; with 443 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How Pembroke earns its Jobs & income grade
The poverty rate holds Pembroke’s grade up (9.1%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 14% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (1.7%) is left out: Pembroke’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Pembroke could be anywhere from D to B−.
How a workday changes Pembroke
On a workday 433 residents head out to work, 10 work right here, and 100 people come in from elsewhere.
About 810 people are in Pembroke on a workday afternoon, 29% 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.
Getting to work from Pembroke takes about 21 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Pembroke workers work from home, vs 18% across Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 568 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.
25% of working residents work in Blacksburg
Where Pembroke clocks in
25% of workers
14% of workers
9% 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 Pembroke
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Pembroke, 2013 → 2023: 64 → 110. 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 Pembroke’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Near or far: the trip to work from Pembroke
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.
Pembroke is a driving town
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 8.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 5.7% across Virginia, on an EPA index of 4.8.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 581 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). 4.1% of Pembroke households have no vehicle (Virginia 6.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Pembroke’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Pembroke ranks: 2,463rd of 3,771 U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 11 | Great Falls Crossing VA | 1,414 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 16 | Occoquan VA | 1,078 | $134K | 2.1% | 5.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 140 | Kincora VA | 1,008 | $134K | 8.8% | 6.3% | 0% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,461 | Albany OH | 1,001 | $52K | 9.3% | 1.4% | 5% | C− |
| 2,462 | Von Ormy TX | 1,241 | $39K | 23.5% | 5.4% | 1% | C− |
| 2,463 | Pembroke VA | 1,139 | $58K | 9.1% | 1.7% | 2% | C− |
| 2,464 | Grant Township IN | 1,095 | $84K | 20.7% | 0.6% | 7% | C− |
| 2,465 | Monongahela Township PA | 1,415 | $70K | 12.9% | 1.7% | 4% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,771 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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 Pembroke, 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 Pembroke: questions
What is the median household income in Pembroke?
$57,500 (±$11,562) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $93,170 across Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Pembroke?
9.1%, against 9.9% across Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Pembroke?
21 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Virginia and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Pembroke work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Blacksburg (25%, 13 mi), Pearisburg (14%, 5 mi), Christiansburg (9%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Pembroke walkable?
Pembroke is more walkable than 54% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 4.8 out of 20, and 8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Pembroke without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Pembroke, from the people who make the trip.
More of Pembroke
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.