Photo: Joe Ravi · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Roanoke have lower incomes than those in 81% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Roanoke C; getting around on foot earns it A. Poverty touches 18.3% of residents; Virginia has 9.9%. For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 4.9 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 56.3 in Arlington.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Roanoke and work: the main findings
Roanoke is where the jobs are
Roanoke has 65,099 jobs, 1.6 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Roanoke are quick
The average trip to work takes 19 minutes, against 27 across Virginia. That’s about 61 hours a year less on the road than the typical Virginia worker. Time on the road ↓
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.
Income, poverty and work: Roanoke’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Roanoke is better than 30% of U.S. towns, #216 of 253 in Virginia. Job access by car holds Roanoke’s grade up (ahead of 77% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Roanoke could be anywhere from C− to C+.
How many people are in Roanoke by day
On a workday 22,590 residents head out to work, 17,276 work right here, and 47,823 people come in from elsewhere.
About 124,000 people are in Roanoke on a workday afternoon, 25% more than live here.
1.6 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.
Each way, about 19 minutes from Roanoke
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Roanoke workers work from home, vs 18% across Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 39,658 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.
The towns that send workers to Roanoke
Where Roanoke clocks in
9% 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.
The kinds of work in Roanoke
65,099 jobs are based in Roanoke.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Roanoke, 2013 → 2023: 66,460 → 65,099. 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 Roanoke’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Half of Roanoke commutes less than 4 miles
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 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Roanoke
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Roanoke is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns, #68 of 253 in Virginia. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 4.8% 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 44,966 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 91% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 58% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 4.9 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 84% 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). 11.0% of Roanoke households have no vehicle (Virginia 6.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of Roanoke’s commuters take a bus or train.
Roanoke places 379th of 441 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 69,000 to 134,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Plymouth MN | 78,942 | $137K | 4.3% | 2.3% | 12% | A+ |
| 3 | Bethesda MD | 69,397 | $192K | 4.3% | 3.1% | 16% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 72 | Centreville VA | 71,706 | $140K | 7.2% | 4.4% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 124 | Dale City VA | 71,016 | $112K | 7.0% | 5.0% | 3% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 205 | Suffolk VA | 104,699 | $93K | 9.4% | 5.0% | 22% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 377 | Capital Township IL | 111,143 | $66K | 16.9% | 6.8% | 62% | C |
| 378 | Bellingham WA | 96,395 | $67K | 18.6% | 5.6% | 51% | C |
| 379 | Roanoke VA | 99,111 | $55K | 18.3% | 5.6% | 43% | C |
| 380 | Greenville NC | 96,443 | $50K | 24.6% | 9.0% | 46% | C |
| 381 | Yuba City CA | 69,485 | $75K | 14.3% | 7.0% | 26% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 441 | Flint MI | 79,306 | $38K | 34.1% | 14.8% | 20% | 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 Roanoke, the top three, the last and three more from Virginia.
Bordering towns draw 20% of Roanoke’s workers
The biggest share goes to Salem (9%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Roanoke workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roanoke | – | C | A | 19 min | $55,378 |
| Cave Spring | 5% | A− | B− | 20 min | $87,539 |
| Salem | 9% | B | A | 19 min | $66,725 |
| Vinton | 1% | B+ | B+ | 26 min | $65,445 |
| Hollins | 5% | B+ | B | 21 min | $77,456 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Roanoke’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 Roanoke: questions
What is the median household income in Roanoke?
$55,378 (±$2,433) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $93,170 across Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Roanoke?
18.3%, against 9.9% across Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Roanoke?
19 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Virginia and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Roanoke work?
43% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Salem (9%, 5 mi), Hollins (5%, 4 mi), Cave Spring (5%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Roanoke walkable?
Roanoke is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 13.0 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Roanoke without a car?
3% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. 58% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Roanoke, from the people who make the trip.
More of Roanoke
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.