Photo: DwayneP at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0College students make up 39% of Radford’s residents
Commuters spend 18 minutes getting to work on average, next to 27 for Virginia and 26 for the U.S. Working from home is the commute for 5% of workers, where Virginia as a whole has 18%. About one in five work in Radford itself; outside it, Blacksburg draws the most (15%, 11 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Radford: the figures worth knowing
Radford trades workers with the towns around it
Radford has about as many jobs (5,912) as working residents (5,654), but they are mostly different people: 4,442 residents leave for work each day while 4,700 people come in. Only 21% of the jobs in Radford are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Radford are quick
The average trip to work takes 18 minutes, against 27 across Virginia. That’s about 69 hours a year less on the road than the typical Virginia worker. Time on the road ↓
A young workforce
34% of Radford’s working residents are 29 or younger, about one in three. The jobs ↓
Radford draws workers from far and wide
The 5,912 jobs in Radford are filled from a wide area. Radford’s own residents hold 21% and the ten next-biggest home towns 23%; the other 56% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
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.
The figures behind Radford’s Jobs & income grade
On family income, poverty and job access, Radford is better than 32% of U.S. towns, #215 of 253 in Virginia. Job access by car holds Radford’s grade up (ahead of 47% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (16.4%, U.S. 11.9%).
Where students are 15% or more of the people the Census checks for poverty (26% here), the grade uses the rate without them: 16.4%, against 28.7% for all residents. Unemployment (8.1%) is left out here: students looking for part-time work count as unemployed. Income is ranked as median family income ($85,993), since student households pull the household median down ($57,348).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for family income and poverty, Radford could be anywhere from C− to B−.
Who works in Radford, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 4,442 residents head out to work, 1,212 work right here, and 4,700 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 (1.05 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.
Each way, about 18 minutes from Radford
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Radford workers work from home, vs 18% across Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 7,701 commuters (the 5% 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.
Inside Radford’s 5,912 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Radford, 2013 → 2023: 7,219 → 5,912. 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 Radford’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The places Radford commutes to
Where Radford clocks in
15% of workers
10% of workers
6% 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.
How far Radford goes to work
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.
Radford is more walkable than 95% of U.S. towns
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 8,128 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 90% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 61% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 14.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 96% 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). 2.3% of Radford households have no vehicle (Virginia 6.1%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Radford’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Radford is 1,577th of 1,999 U.S. towns of 12,000 to 23,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Trophy Club TX | 13,695 | $201K | 2.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 4 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6 | Wolf Trap VA | 15,858 | $250K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 21 | Rose Hill VA | 21,066 | $175K | 2.6% | 2.7% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,575 | Willmar MN | 22,001 | $62K | 13.1% | 4.8% | 60% | C |
| 1,576 | Piney Green NC | 14,078 | $72K | 10.8% | 5.9% | 3% | C |
| 1,577 | Radford VA | 17,243 | $57K | 28.7% | 8.1% | 21% | C |
| 1,578 | Dallas GA | 15,402 | $76K | 16.3% | 8.3% | 4% | C |
| 1,579 | Batavia NY | 15,168 | $59K | 14.2% | 5.5% | 26% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 1,999 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Radford, the top three, the last and three more from Virginia.
Next door to Radford
The biggest share goes to Fairlawn (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Radford workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Radford | – | C | A | 18 min | $57,348 |
| Plum Creek | under 1% | D | B− | 21 min | $41,603 |
| Fairlawn | 2% | B | C+ | 22 min | $66,918 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Radford’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.
- Students. 39% of residents are college students; the poverty input leaves off-campus students out (above).
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Radford: questions
What is the median household income in Radford?
$57,348 (±$6,243) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $93,170 across Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Radford?
28.7% of residents live below the poverty line; leaving out college students, 16.4%. Virginia: 9.9%.
How long is the commute from Radford?
18 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Virginia and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Radford work?
21% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Blacksburg (15%, 11 mi), Christiansburg (10%, 9 mi), Roanoke (6%, 35 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Radford walkable?
Radford is more walkable than 95% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 11.3 out of 20, and 11% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Radford without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 61% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Radford, from the people who make the trip.
More of Radford
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.