Vestal's Gap Road and Lanesville Historic District · Photo: Cecouchman · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Sterling top those of 89% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 8.0% of residents, where Virginia as a whole has 9.9%. Sterling grades A for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. Only 4% work in Sterling itself; outside it, Reston draws the most (5%, 5 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Sterling stands out on work
No single place dominates Sterling’s commute
The biggest draw, Reston, gets only 5% of working residents, and 60% work outside the top ten towns entirely. Sterling residents fan out across the region. The commute map ↓
Sterling draws workers from far and wide
The 11,299 jobs in Sterling are filled from a wide area. Sterling’s own residents hold 5% and the ten next-biggest home towns 20%; the other 75% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Sterling makes and builds things
46% of the jobs based in Sterling are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Sterling residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 10%. The jobs ↓
Most jobs in Sterling pay over $40,000 a year
75% of the jobs based in Sterling pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), the top earnings band in the Census data. The jobs ↓
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.
What’s behind Sterling’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Sterling is better than 86% of U.S. towns, #89 of 253 in Virginia. Job access by car is its strongest input (ahead of 92% of U.S. towns); unemployment ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (3.7%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Sterling could be anywhere from B+ to A+.
Where Sterling’s working residents head each day
Where Sterling clocks in
5% 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.
46% of the jobs in Sterling make or build things
11,299 jobs are based in Sterling.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sterling, 2013 → 2023: 9,408 → 11,299. 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 Sterling’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who works in Sterling, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 14,551 residents head out to work, 573 work right here, and 10,726 people come in from elsewhere.
About 29,000 people are in Sterling on a workday afternoon, 12% fewer than live here.
0.75 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
From Sterling, about 24 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sterling workers work from home, vs 18% across Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 15,238 commuters (the 16% 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 commute from Sterling, by distance
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.
The commute in Sterling is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Sterling is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns, #152 of 253 in Virginia. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.0% 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 18,066 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 21% 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 0.8 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 55% 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). 5.9% of Sterling households have no vehicle (Virginia 6.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Sterling’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Sterling ranks: 317th of 1,283 U.S. towns of 23,000 to 44,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 2 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | Oakton VA | 36,528 | $161K | 4.6% | 1.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 16 | Short Pump VA | 29,026 | $139K | 3.6% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 71 | Brambleton VA | 24,537 | $238K | 3.5% | 3.2% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 315 | Chelmsford MA | 38,549 | $141K | 4.7% | 5.3% | 11% | A |
| 316 | Teaneck Township NJ | 43,329 | $144K | 5.6% | 5.7% | 7% | A |
| 317 | Sterling VA | 32,411 | $123K | 8.0% | 3.7% | 4% | A |
| 318 | San Bruno CA | 42,305 | $141K | 6.0% | 5.0% | 5% | A |
| 319 | Gurnee IL | 30,458 | $120K | 5.2% | 4.8% | 10% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,283 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Sterling, the top three, the last and three more from Virginia.
The towns around Sterling
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Sterling workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sterling | – | A | B+ | 24 min | $123,303 |
| Dulles Town Center | 4% | A− | B | 26 min | $125,941 |
| Oak Grove | under 3% | A+ | B+ | 37 min | $174,423 |
| Cascades | under 3% | A | A− | 28 min | $167,171 |
| Sugarland Run | under 3% | A | B+ | 28 min | $166,385 |
| Ashburn | 5% | A+ | A− | 27 min | $154,978 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Ashburn. Darker towns draw more of Sterling’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 Sterling: questions
What is the median household income in Sterling?
$123,303 (±$10,297) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $93,170 across Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sterling?
8.0%, against 9.9% across Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sterling?
24 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Virginia and 26 nationally. 16% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sterling work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Reston (5%, 5 mi), Tysons (5%, 11 mi), Ashburn (5%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Sterling walkable?
Sterling is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.9 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sterling without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sterling, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sterling
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.