Photo: Ben Schumin · CC BY-SA 3.0There are 4.6 jobs in Potomac Mills for every working resident, and 12,272 people commute in
Employers in Potomac Mills report 12,383 jobs, and 2,686 of its residents work somewhere. Potomac Mills grades B for jobs and income and A for walkability. Measured by household income, Potomac Mills is ahead of 80% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Potomac Mills, in brief
Potomac Mills fills up on a workday
Potomac Mills has 12,383 jobs, 4.6 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 15,000 people are in town, more than double the 5,700 who live here. Day and night ↓
Potomac Mills draws workers from far and wide
The 12,383 jobs in Potomac Mills are filled from a wide area. The ten biggest home towns of its workers supply 31%; the other 68% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
No single place dominates Potomac Mills’ commute
The biggest draw, Washington, DC, gets only 8% of working residents, and 60% work outside the top ten towns entirely. Potomac Mills residents fan out across the region. The commute map ↓
Stores, warehouses and trucking
50% of the jobs in Potomac Mills are in trade, transport and utilities, against 16% of the jobs its residents hold. The jobs ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Potomac Mills
64% of Potomac Mills residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 39% of the jobs based in Potomac Mills pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 96% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
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.
Why Potomac Mills gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Potomac Mills is better than 64% of U.S. towns, #153 of 253 in Virginia. Job access by car holds Potomac Mills’ grade up (ahead of 88% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (15.2%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on household income.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Potomac Mills could be anywhere from C to A+.
Who works in Potomac Mills, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 2,575 residents head out to work and 111 work right here.
About 15,000 people are in Potomac Mills on a workday afternoon, 169% more than live here.
4.6 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Where Potomac Mills’s workers come from
Where Potomac Mills clocks in
8% of workers
5% 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 Potomac Mills’ employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Potomac Mills, 2013 → 2023: 12,372 → 12,383. 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 Potomac Mills’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Potomac Mills spends getting to work: about 30 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Potomac Mills workers work from home, vs 18% across Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,879 commuters (the 22% 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.
Miles to work from Potomac Mills
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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Potomac Mills
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Potomac Mills is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns, #82 of 253 in Virginia. Both inputs place Potomac Mills 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 2,421 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 50% 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 6.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 87% 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). 3.3% of Potomac Mills households have no vehicle (Virginia 6.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 5% of Potomac Mills’ commuters take a bus or train.
Potomac Mills next to U.S. towns of 4,000 to 7,800: 1,421st of 3,527 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6 | Pimmit Hills VA | 6,589 | $173K | 1.6% | 1.3% | 3% | A+ |
| 7 | Braddock VA | 6,536 | $212K | 0.9% | 1.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 20 | South Run VA | 6,600 | $250K | 2.1% | 1.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,419 | Harris Township PA | 5,882 | $103K | 9.6% | 3.8% | 5% | B |
| 1,420 | McSwain CA | 5,783 | $139K | 17.1% | 3.2% | 2% | B |
| 1,421 | Potomac Mills VA | 5,741 | $105K | 15.2% | 4.8% | 4% | B |
| 1,422 | Rainsville AL | 6,020 | $74K | 7.0% | 1.0% | 16% | B |
| 1,423 | Northfield NH | 5,081 | $93K | 8.1% | 3.3% | 6% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 3,527 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Potomac Mills, the top three, the last and three more from Virginia.
How Potomac Mills compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Lake Ridge (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Potomac Mills workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Potomac Mills | – | B | A | 30 min | $104,545 |
| Lake Ridge | 3% | A | A− | 36 min | $127,154 |
| Dale City | under 3% | A− | A− | 37 min | $111,994 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Potomac Mills’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 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 Potomac Mills: questions
What is the median household income in Potomac Mills?
$104,545 (±$33,592) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $93,170 across Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Potomac Mills?
15.2%, against 9.9% across Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Potomac Mills?
30 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Virginia and 26 nationally. 22% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Potomac Mills work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Washington (8%, 23 mi), Arlington (5%, 19 mi), Alexandria (5%, 16 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Potomac Mills walkable?
Potomac Mills is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 9.6 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Potomac Mills without a car?
5% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Potomac Mills, from the people who make the trip.
More of Potomac Mills
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.