Photo: Ben Schumin · CC BY-SA 2.0Stuarts Draft has lower unemployment (3.2%) than 66% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Stuarts Draft B; getting around on foot earns it D−. For 7% of workers, the job is at home, against 18% across Virginia. About one in five work in Stuarts Draft; the top destination outside it is Waynesboro (10%, 8 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Stuarts Draft at work: what stands out
Stuarts Draft makes and builds things
64% of the jobs based in Stuarts Draft are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Stuarts Draft residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 28%. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Stuarts Draft are quick
The average trip to work takes 20 minutes, against 27 across Virginia. That’s about 54 hours a year less on the road than the typical Virginia worker. Time on the road ↓
Stuarts Draft has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Stuarts Draft went from 5,280 in 2013 to 7,321 in 2023, +39%. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Where Stuarts Draft’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Stuarts Draft is better than 64% of U.S. towns, #154 of 253 in Virginia. Unemployment is its strongest input; job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 50% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and job access by car.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Stuarts Draft could be anywhere from C+ to A−.
In Stuarts Draft, 64% of jobs are in factories, building or farming
7,321 jobs are based in Stuarts Draft.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Stuarts Draft, 2013 → 2023: 5,280 → 7,321. 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 Stuarts Draft’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 20 minutes each way, quicker than most of Virginia
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Stuarts Draft workers work from home, vs 18% across Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,588 commuters (the 7% 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.
Stuarts Draft fills up on a workday
On a workday 4,847 residents head out to work, 1,100 work right here, and 6,221 people come in from elsewhere.
About 13,000 people are in Stuarts Draft on a workday afternoon, 12% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.23 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.
Where the trip to work from Stuarts Draft ends
Where Stuarts Draft clocks in
10% of workers
8% of workers
8% 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.
Stuarts Draft’s commute, mile by mile
About 21% 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 trips from Stuarts Draft start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Stuarts Draft is more walkable than 5% of U.S. towns, #250 of 253 in Virginia. Both inputs place Stuarts Draft 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 6,009 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). 3.3% of Stuarts Draft households have no vehicle (Virginia 6.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Stuarts Draft’s commuters take a bus or train.
Stuarts Draft places 1,289th of 2,695 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 8,000 to 16,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6 | Difficult Run VA | 9,938 | $250K | 1.4% | 1.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 16 | Belmont VA | 9,729 | $243K | 2.1% | 1.1% | 2% | A+ |
| 17 | Wolf Trap VA | 15,858 | $250K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,287 | Charter Oak CA | 9,442 | $88K | 8.0% | 7.8% | 1% | B |
| 1,288 | Stillwater NY | 10,198 | $105K | 6.7% | 5.7% | 4% | B |
| 1,289 | Stuarts Draft VA | 11,780 | $79K | 7.3% | 3.2% | 18% | B |
| 1,290 | Howell MI | 9,896 | $60K | 7.7% | 3.2% | 12% | B |
| 1,291 | Crawford NY | 9,041 | $135K | 7.8% | 5.8% | 7% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 2,695 | Roma TX | 11,543 | $25K | 37.1% | 12.4% | 22% | 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 Stuarts Draft, the top three, the last and three more from Virginia.
How Stuarts Draft compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Lyndhurst (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Stuarts Draft workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stuarts Draft | – | B | D− | 20 min | $79,332 |
| Lyndhurst | 2% | B+ | D | 21 min | $76,111 |
| Sherando | under 2% | — | — | 24 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Sherando: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Stuarts Draft’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 Stuarts Draft: questions
What is the median household income in Stuarts Draft?
$79,332 (±$5,894) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $93,170 across Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Stuarts Draft?
7.3%, against 9.9% across Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Stuarts Draft?
20 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Virginia and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Stuarts Draft work?
18% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Waynesboro (10%, 8 mi), Fishersville (8%, 6 mi), Staunton (8%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Stuarts Draft walkable?
Stuarts Draft is more walkable than 5% of U.S. towns (Walkability D−): an EPA walkability index of 4.5 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Stuarts Draft 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 Stuarts Draft, from the people who make the trip.
More of Stuarts Draft
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.