Photo: Waldo Jaquith from Charlottesville, VA, United States · CC BY-SA 2.0With 0.3 jobs for every working resident, most of Shenandoah works elsewhere
Shenandoah has 337 jobs; 1,146 of its residents have a job. The two grades for Shenandoah are C for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. At home: 4% of workers have no commute at all (Virginia 18%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The short version on getting to work from Shenandoah
Few Shenandoah workers work from home
Only 4% of workers work from home, against 18% across Virginia. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Shenandoah makes and builds things
42% of the jobs based in Shenandoah are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Shenandoah residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 27%. The jobs ↓
Shenandoah is a place people come home to
There are 337 jobs based in Shenandoah, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Shenandoah has about 1,700 people in it, 33% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Shenandoah workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 32 minutes each way, against 27 across Virginia. Over a year that’s about 245 hours of commuting, 38 more than the state’s typical 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.
Jobs & income in Shenandoah: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Shenandoah is better than 33% of U.S. towns. Unemployment holds Shenandoah’s grade up (3.9%, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 24% of U.S. towns).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Shenandoah could be anywhere from D to B.
How long Shenandoah spends getting to work: about 32 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Shenandoah workers work from home, vs 18% across Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,200 commuters (the 4% 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.
Goods jobs make up 42% of work in Shenandoah
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Shenandoah, 2013 → 2023: 404 → 337. 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 Shenandoah’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily commute in and out of Shenandoah
On a workday 1,090 residents head out to work, 56 work right here, and 281 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,700 people are in Shenandoah on a workday afternoon, 33% 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 2023, primary jobs.
14% of working residents work in Harrisonburg
Where Shenandoah clocks in
14% 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.
Half of Shenandoah commutes less than 16 miles
About 24% 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.
Most of Shenandoah commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Shenandoah is more walkable than 38% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Shenandoah 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 1,251 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). 2.9% of Shenandoah households have no vehicle (Virginia 6.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Shenandoah’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Shenandoah is 3,238th among 5,207 U.S. towns of 1,700 to 3,300
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | Sully Square VA | 2,394 | $176K | 0.8% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 22 | Oak Grove VA | 2,408 | $174K | 0.6% | 2.5% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 57 | Mason Neck VA | 2,039 | $168K | 1.1% | 2.3% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,236 | Lawai HI | 2,718 | $104K | 9.9% | 9.1% | 3% | C |
| 3,237 | Midway GA | 2,387 | $81K | 17.6% | 4.2% | 4% | C |
| 3,238 | Shenandoah VA | 2,480 | $71K | 14.2% | 3.9% | 5% | C |
| 3,239 | Cameron WI | 1,834 | $62K | 8.9% | 2.5% | 8% | C |
| 3,240 | Great Valley NY | 1,933 | $68K | 7.4% | 4.7% | 3% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 5,207 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Shenandoah, 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 Shenandoah: questions
What is the median household income in Shenandoah?
$71,458 (±$7,950) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $93,170 across Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Shenandoah?
14.2%, against 9.9% across Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Shenandoah?
32 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Virginia and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Shenandoah work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Harrisonburg (14%, 14 mi), Luray (6%, 15 mi), Elkton (5%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Shenandoah walkable?
Shenandoah is more walkable than 38% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 6.4 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Shenandoah without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Shenandoah, from the people who make the trip.
More of Shenandoah
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.