Photo: Ken Lund from Las Vegas, Nevada, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0At 10.0%, unemployment in Petersburg is higher than in 94% of U.S. towns
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 0.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 11.5 in Richmond. The two grades for Petersburg are C− for jobs and income and A− for walkability. Measured by household income, Petersburg is behind 87% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Petersburg: the figures worth knowing
Petersburg draws workers from far and wide
The 10,863 jobs in Petersburg are filled from a wide area. Petersburg’s own residents hold 17% and the ten next-biggest home towns 18%; the other 65% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Petersburg’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Petersburg is Richmond, 23 miles away as the crow flies. 10% of working residents (1,383) 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 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Petersburg
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Petersburg is better than 18% of U.S. towns, #238 of 253 in Virginia. Job access by car holds Petersburg’s grade up (ahead of 77% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Petersburg could be anywhere from D to C−.
10% of working residents work in Richmond
Where Petersburg clocks in
10% 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 commute from Petersburg, by distance
About 18% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Petersburg on a workday afternoon
On a workday 12,533 residents head out to work, 1,820 work right here, and 9,043 people come in from elsewhere.
About 30,000 people are in Petersburg on a workday afternoon, 10% fewer than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.76 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
The kinds of work in Petersburg
10,863 jobs are based in Petersburg.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Petersburg, 2014 → 2024: 11,959 → 10,863. 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 Petersburg’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Petersburg takes about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Petersburg workers work from home, vs 18% across Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 13,070 commuters (the 10% 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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Petersburg
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Petersburg is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns, #121 of 253 in Virginia. Both inputs place Petersburg near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 14,525 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 8% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 45% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 14.8% of Petersburg households have no vehicle (Virginia 6.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 4% of Petersburg’s commuters take a bus or train.
Petersburg and other U.S. towns of 24,000 to 46,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 2 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 8 | Oakton VA | 36,528 | $161K | 4.6% | 1.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 15 | Short Pump VA | 29,026 | $139K | 3.6% | 1.7% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 69 | Brambleton VA | 24,537 | $238K | 3.5% | 3.2% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,177 | Michigan City IN | 31,338 | $53K | 19.7% | 9.1% | 33% | C− |
| 1,178 | Anderson SC | 31,323 | $47K | 21.0% | 6.8% | 21% | C− |
| 1,179 | Petersburg VA | 33,734 | $51K | 21.7% | 10.0% | 13% | C− |
| 1,180 | Hammond LA | 24,032 | $48K | 28.9% | 5.9% | 25% | C− |
| 1,181 | Adelanto CA | 38,798 | $69K | 17.2% | 11.8% | 8% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,255 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 25% | 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 Petersburg, the top three, the last and three more from Virginia.
Around Petersburg: the bordering towns
The biggest share goes to Colonial Heights (4%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Petersburg workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Petersburg | – | C− | A− | 26 min | $50,698 |
| Ettrick | 2% | C | B+ | 21 min | $58,137 |
| Fort Gregg-Adams | under 2% | — | — | — | — |
| Colonial Heights | 4% | B+ | B+ | 26 min | $76,505 |
| Matoaca | under 2% | C | D | 33 min | $70,174 |
Same-state neighbors only. Fort Gregg-Adams: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Petersburg’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Petersburg: questions
What is the median household income in Petersburg?
$50,698 (±$2,886) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $93,170 across Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Petersburg?
21.7%, against 9.9% across Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Petersburg?
26 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Virginia and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Petersburg work?
13% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Richmond (10%, 23 mi), Colonial Heights (4%, 4 mi), Hopewell (2%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Petersburg walkable?
Petersburg is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.8 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Petersburg without a car?
4% of commuters take transit and 15% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Petersburg, from the people who make the trip.
More of Petersburg
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.