Photo: Doug Kerr · CC BY-SA 2.0Tazewell has lower household incomes than 98% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 25.1% of residents, against 9.9% across Virginia. The two grades for Tazewell are C− for jobs and income and C− for walkability. 6% of workers have no commute at all, next to 18% for Virginia as a whole.
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 Tazewell
Jobs & income in Tazewell: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Tazewell is better than 23% of U.S. towns, #234 of 253 in Virginia. Unemployment holds Tazewell’s grade up (1.4%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($34,618, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Tazewell could be anywhere from D to C.
The daily commute in and out of Tazewell
On a workday 1,230 residents head out to work, 423 work right here, and 2,692 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,800 people are in Tazewell on a workday afternoon, 34% more than live here.
1.9 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.
The daily trip into Tazewell
Where Tazewell clocks in
3% of workers
3% 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.
Mostly health care, schools and offices in Tazewell
3,115 jobs are based in Tazewell.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Tazewell, 2013 → 2023: 3,570 → 3,115. 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 Tazewell’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 26 minutes in Tazewell
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Tazewell workers work from home, vs 18% across Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,386 commuters (the 5% 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.
How many miles Tazewell commutes
About 26% 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.
For most of Tazewell, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Tazewell is more walkable than 25% of U.S. towns, #231 of 253 in Virginia. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 1,466 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). 6.0% of Tazewell households have no vehicle (Virginia 6.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Tazewell’s commuters take a bus or train.
Tazewell next to U.S. towns of 3,000 to 5,800: 3,181st of 4,039 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 12 | One Loudoun VA | 3,309 | $241K | 0.9% | 0.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 37 | Navy VA | 3,839 | $239K | 4.4% | 1.5% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 58 | Crosspointe VA | 5,669 | $250K | 3.7% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,179 | Westfall Township PA | 3,423 | $72K | 8.2% | 15.0% | 9% | C− |
| 3,180 | Scottdale PA | 4,271 | $55K | 14.7% | 7.8% | 6% | C− |
| 3,181 | Tazewell VA | 4,291 | $35K | 25.1% | 1.4% | 26% | C− |
| 3,182 | Lafayette Township OH | 4,336 | $54K | 28.6% | 2.6% | 9% | C− |
| 3,183 | Crosby TX | 4,617 | $59K | 36.8% | 9.9% | 2% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,039 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Tazewell, 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 Tazewell: questions
What is the median household income in Tazewell?
$34,618 (±$8,299) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $93,170 across Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Tazewell?
25.1%, against 9.9% across Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Tazewell?
26 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Virginia and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Tazewell work?
26% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Richlands (3%, 17 mi), Claypool Hill (3%, 14 mi), Bluefield (3%, 15 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Tazewell walkable?
Tazewell is more walkable than 25% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 7.2 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Tazewell without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Tazewell, from the people who make the trip.
More of Tazewell
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.