Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0St. Charles at work: jobs, income and the commute
There are 40 jobs in St. Charles, and 23 of its residents work somewhere. For 0% of workers, the job is at home; Virginia has 18%. Only 4% work in St. Charles; the top destination outside it is Kingsport (9%, 35 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
St. Charles by day and by night
On a workday 22 residents head out to work, 1 work right here, and 39 people come in from elsewhere.
About 100 people are in St. Charles on a workday afternoon, 20% more than live here.
1.7 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.
Who travels to work in St. Charles, and from where
Where St. Charles clocks in
9% of workers
9% of workers
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.
Health, schools and offices: most of the jobs in St. Charles
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in St. Charles, 2013 → 2023: 4 → 40. 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 St. Charles’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Working from home in St. Charles
of St. Charles workers work from home, vs 18% across Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 9 commuters (the 0% 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.
Half of St. Charles commutes less than 35 miles
About 32% 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.
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 St. Charles: questions
What is the median household income in St. Charles?
$24,338 (±$13,699) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $93,170 across Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in St. Charles?
65.1%, against 9.9% across Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
Where do people who live in St. Charles work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Kingsport (9%, 35 mi), Big Stone Gap (9%, 16 mi), Norton (9%, 25 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around St. Charles without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from St. Charles, from the people who make the trip.
More of St. Charles
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.