Photo: DwayneP · CC BY-SA 3.0Pulaski has lower household incomes than 88% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 21.2% of residents (Virginia 9.9%). For jobs and income Pulaski is better than 14% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns (C+). About one in seven work in Pulaski; the top destination outside it is Blacksburg (8%, 22 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Pulaski apart
Pulaski trades workers with the towns around it
Pulaski has about as many jobs (3,867) as working residents (3,376), but they are mostly different people: 2,825 residents leave for work each day while 3,316 people come in. Only 14% of the jobs in Pulaski are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
No single place dominates Pulaski’s commute
The biggest draw, Blacksburg, gets only 8% of working residents, and 52% work outside the top ten towns entirely. Pulaski residents fan out across the region. The commute map ↓
Pulaski’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Pulaski is Blacksburg, 22 miles away as the crow flies. 8% of working residents (259) 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 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Where Pulaski’s Jobs & income grade comes from
Unemployment holds Pulaski’s grade up (5.2%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($49,491, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Pulaski could be anywhere from D to C+.
The workday shuffle in and out of Pulaski
On a workday 2,825 residents head out to work, 551 work right here, and 3,316 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.15 per resident).
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 people from Pulaski work
Where Pulaski clocks in
8% of workers
6% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Pulaski
About 15% 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 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Jobs in Pulaski: what the 3,867 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Pulaski, 2013 → 2023: 3,755 → 3,867. 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 Pulaski’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 23 minutes to work from Pulaski
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Pulaski workers work from home, vs 18% across Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,293 commuters (the 11% 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 Pulaski: mostly by car
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 5.7% across Virginia.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 3,713 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 14% 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 40% 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). 9.4% of Pulaski households have no vehicle (Virginia 6.1%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Pulaski’s commuters take a bus or train.
Pulaski next to U.S. towns of 6,200 to 11,900
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 3 | Pimmit Hills VA | 6,589 | $173K | 1.6% | 1.3% | 3% | A+ |
| 4 | Braddock VA | 6,536 | $212K | 0.9% | 1.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | Difficult Run VA | 9,938 | $250K | 1.4% | 1.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,604 | Rochester Township IN | 10,001 | $60K | 15.4% | 7.3% | 32% | D |
| 2,605 | Fort Scott KS | 7,500 | $52K | 13.5% | 6.3% | 46% | D |
| 2,606 | Pulaski VA | 8,807 | $49K | 21.2% | 5.2% | 16% | D |
| 2,607 | Hondo TX | 9,130 | $62K | 17.0% | 7.1% | 20% | D |
| 2,608 | Farmington ME | 8,258 | $54K | 15.4% | 5.2% | 26% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 2,878 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Pulaski, 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 Pulaski: questions
What is the median household income in Pulaski?
$49,491 (±$8,114) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $93,170 across Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Pulaski?
21.2%, against 9.9% across Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Pulaski?
23 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Virginia and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Pulaski work?
16% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Blacksburg (8%, 22 mi), Radford (6%, 12 mi), Christiansburg (5%, 21 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Pulaski walkable?
Pulaski is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 8.2 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Pulaski without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Pulaski, from the people who make the trip.
More of Pulaski
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.