Photo: Chrisfortier at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Poquoson has 0.4 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Employers in Poquoson report 1,764 jobs; 4,907 of its residents have a job. The two grades for Poquoson are A for jobs and income and C− for walkability. Measured by household income, Poquoson is ahead of 89% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Poquoson in brief
Poquoson and Newport News trade workers both ways
Newport News is the top workplace for Poquoson residents (31%) and also where the most people who work in Poquoson come from (14% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Poquoson
66% of Poquoson residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 47% of the jobs based in Poquoson pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 89% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Poquoson has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Poquoson went from 1,257 in 2014 to 1,764 in 2024, +40%. The jobs ↓
Most Poquoson residents work close to home
60% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
The four measures behind Poquoson’s grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Poquoson is better than 87% of U.S. towns, #85 of 253 in Virginia. Household income is its strongest input ($120,972, U.S. $80,734); job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 64% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Poquoson could be anywhere from B+ to A+.
31% of working residents work in Newport News
Where Poquoson clocks in
31% of workers
15% of workers
3% 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 Poquoson’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Poquoson, 2014 → 2024: 1,257 → 1,764. 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 Poquoson’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Poquoson’s workers travel
About 17% 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.
Who commutes out of Poquoson, and who commutes in
On a workday 4,353 residents head out to work, 554 work right here, and 1,210 people come in from elsewhere.
About 10,000 people are in Poquoson on a workday afternoon, 24% 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 2024, primary jobs.
From Poquoson, about 27 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Poquoson workers work from home, vs 18% across Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,652 commuters (the 12% 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.
Getting around Poquoson: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Poquoson is more walkable than 18% of U.S. towns, #241 of 253 in Virginia. Both inputs place Poquoson 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 6,403 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). 1.0% of Poquoson households have no vehicle (Virginia 6.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Poquoson’s commuters take a bus or train.
Poquoson is 550th of 2,526 U.S. towns of 9,000 to 18,000 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5 | Difficult Run VA | 9,938 | $250K | 1.4% | 1.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | Belmont VA | 9,729 | $243K | 2.1% | 1.1% | 2% | A+ |
| 14 | Wolf Trap VA | 15,858 | $250K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 548 | Brecksville OH | 13,843 | $135K | 3.5% | 5.6% | 8% | A |
| 549 | Heath TX | 11,671 | $221K | 2.0% | 7.5% | 3% | A |
| 550 | Poquoson VA | 13,292 | $121K | 4.5% | 3.2% | 11% | A |
| 551 | Wood-Ridge NJ | 10,341 | $136K | 6.9% | 4.8% | 3% | A |
| 552 | Liberty Hill TX | 13,317 | $115K | 7.2% | 2.8% | 6% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,526 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 28% | 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 Poquoson, the top three, the last and three more from Virginia.
The towns next door employ 15% of Poquoson
Jobs & commute next door
The biggest share goes to Hampton. Darker towns draw more of Poquoson’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 Poquoson: questions
What is the median household income in Poquoson?
$120,972 (±$13,412) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $93,170 across Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Poquoson?
4.5%, against 9.9% across Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Poquoson?
27 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Virginia and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Poquoson work?
11% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Newport News (31%, 12 mi), Hampton (15%, 6 mi), Norfolk (3%, 15 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Poquoson walkable?
Poquoson is more walkable than 18% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 5.7 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Poquoson without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Poquoson, from the people who make the trip.
More of Poquoson
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.