Photo: Warfieldian · CC BY-SA 3.0Unemployment in Vinton (0.9%) is lower than in 95% of U.S. towns
Working residents average 26 minutes each way, next to 27 for Virginia and 26 for the U.S. Household incomes here are lower than in 65% of U.S. towns. For jobs and income Vinton is better than 69% of U.S. towns (B+); for walkability it is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns (B+). 2,336 jobs are based in Vinton, against 3,707 working residents.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Vinton at work: what stands out
Vinton and Roanoke trade workers both ways
Roanoke is the top workplace for Vinton residents (35%) and also where the most people who work in Vinton come from (18% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Most Vinton residents work close to home
68% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. How far ↓
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 Vinton: the grade in detail
Unemployment holds Vinton’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($65,445, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Vinton could be anywhere from B− to A.
35% of working residents work in Roanoke
Where Vinton clocks in
35% 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.
How far it is to work from Vinton
About 15% 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.
The daily flow of workers through Vinton
On a workday 3,485 residents head out to work, 222 work right here, and 2,114 people come in from elsewhere.
About 6,600 people are in Vinton on a workday afternoon, 17% fewer than live here.
0.63 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.
The kinds of work in Vinton
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Vinton, 2013 → 2023: 2,455 → 2,336. 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 Vinton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Vinton spends getting to work: about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Vinton workers work from home, vs 18% across Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,375 commuters (the 14% 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.
Few in Vinton walk, bike or ride to work
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.8% 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 3,910 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 39% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 2.6 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 73% 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). 5.0% of Vinton households have no vehicle (Virginia 6.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Vinton’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Vinton is 1,148th of 3,015 U.S. towns of 5,600 to 10,800
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5 | Pimmit Hills VA | 6,589 | $173K | 1.6% | 1.3% | 3% | A+ |
| 6 | Braddock VA | 6,536 | $212K | 0.9% | 1.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 12 | Difficult Run VA | 9,938 | $250K | 1.4% | 1.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,146 | Montpelier VT | 7,823 | $81K | 6.5% | 2.4% | 33% | B+ |
| 1,147 | Washington NJ | 7,326 | $81K | 8.5% | 3.0% | 5% | B+ |
| 1,148 | Vinton VA | 7,967 | $65K | 10.5% | 0.9% | 6% | B+ |
| 1,149 | Orange Beach AL | 8,798 | $98K | 2.6% | 3.8% | 28% | B+ |
| 1,150 | Mascoutah IL | 9,239 | $97K | 9.8% | 4.1% | 14% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,015 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Vinton, the top three, the last and three more from Virginia.
Vinton and its neighbors: 35% work next door
Jobs & commute next door
The biggest share goes to Roanoke. Darker towns draw more of Vinton’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 Vinton: questions
What is the median household income in Vinton?
$65,445 (±$11,247) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $93,170 across Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Vinton?
10.5%, against 9.9% across Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Vinton?
26 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Virginia and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Vinton work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Roanoke (35%, 4 mi), Salem (8%, 9 mi), Hollins (6%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Vinton walkable?
Vinton is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 14.0 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Vinton without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 39% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Vinton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Vinton
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.