James Charlton Farm · Photo: Skye Marthaler · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Plum Creek have lower incomes than those in 95% of U.S. towns
Working from home is the commute for 3% of workers; Virginia has 18%. 15.8% of residents live below the poverty line (Virginia 9.9%). The two grades for Plum Creek are D for jobs and income and B− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Plum Creek and work: the main findings
Plum Creek is a place people come home to
There are 42 jobs based in Plum Creek, about one for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Plum Creek has about 490 people in it, 54% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Plum Creek and Christiansburg trade workers both ways
Christiansburg is the top workplace for Plum Creek residents (19%) and also where the most people who work in Plum Creek come from (19% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Few Plum Creek workers work from home
Only 3% 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; with 616 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Jobs & income in Plum Creek: the grade in detail
On income, poverty and job access, Plum Creek is better than 14% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Plum Creek’s grade up (ahead of 41% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($41,603, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (10.0%) is left out: Plum Creek’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, Plum Creek could be anywhere from D to B−.
Plum Creek quiets down on a workday
On a workday 615 residents head out to work, 1 work right here, and 41 people come in from elsewhere.
About 490 people are in Plum Creek on a workday afternoon, 54% fewer than live here.
0.07 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
19% of working residents work in Christiansburg
Where Plum Creek clocks in
19% of workers
17% of workers
8% 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.
Time on the road from Plum Creek: 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 Plum Creek workers work from home, vs 18% across Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 517 commuters (the 3% 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.
Goods, not services: 36% of the jobs in Plum Creek
42 jobs are based in Plum Creek.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Plum Creek, 2014 → 2024: 52 → 42. 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 Plum Creek’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Miles to work from Plum Creek
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.
For most of Plum Creek, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Plum Creek is more walkable than 51% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 5.7% across Virginia, on an EPA index of 5.5.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 531 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% 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 under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 12.8% of Plum Creek households have no vehicle (Virginia 6.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Plum Creek’s commuters take a bus or train.
2,356th of 3,133: where Plum Creek ranks among U.S. towns of 700 to 1,400
| # | 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% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | Occoquan VA | 1,078 | $134K | 2.1% | 5.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 110 | Kincora VA | 1,008 | $134K | 8.8% | 6.3% | 0% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 178 | Ruckersville VA | 1,399 | $102K | 0.0% | 0.0% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,354 | Orwell NY | 1,081 | $69K | 16.7% | 5.9% | 0% | D |
| 2,355 | St. Clair Township PA | 1,302 | $55K | 16.6% | 10.7% | 2% | D |
| 2,356 | Plum Creek VA | 1,068 | $42K | 15.8% | 10.0% | <1% | D |
| 2,357 | Salem Township IN | 1,272 | $70K | 18.4% | 3.2% | 14% | D |
| 2,358 | Peabody Township KS | 1,090 | $55K | 14.6% | 3.8% | 5% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,133 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 1% | 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 Plum Creek, the top three, the last and three more from Virginia.
Around Plum Creek: the bordering towns
The biggest share goes to Radford (8%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Plum Creek workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plum Creek | – | D | B− | 21 min | $41,603 |
| Radford | 8% | C | A | 18 min | $57,348 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Plum Creek’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 Plum Creek: questions
What is the median household income in Plum Creek?
$41,603 (±$21,623) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $93,170 across Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Plum Creek?
15.8%, against 9.9% across Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Plum Creek?
21 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Virginia and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Plum Creek work?
<1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Christiansburg (19%, 6 mi), Blacksburg (17%, 8 mi), Radford (8%, 3 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Plum Creek walkable?
Plum Creek is more walkable than 51% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 5.5 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Plum Creek without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 13% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Plum Creek, from the people who make the trip.
More of Plum Creek
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.