Photo: Taber Andrew Bain · CC BY 2.0Where Wakefield earns its living
A typical one-way commute lasts 39 minutes; Virginia averages 27, the U.S. 26. 6% of workers have no commute at all (Virginia 18%). About one in ten work in Wakefield itself; outside it, Suffolk draws the most (5%, 27 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Wakefield
Wakefield workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 39 minutes each way, against 27 across Virginia. Over a year that’s about 299 hours of commuting, 92 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
Stores, warehouses and trucking
53% of the jobs in Wakefield are in trade, transport and utilities, against 30% of the jobs its residents hold. 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; with 360 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Commuting from Wakefield: about 39 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 12.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Wakefield workers work from home, vs 18% across Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 548 commuters (the 6% 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.
What Wakefield’s employers do
381 jobs are based in Wakefield.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Wakefield, 2013 → 2023: 345 → 381. 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 Wakefield’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 330 residents head out to work, 30 work right here, and 351 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.06 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.
The towns that employ Wakefield’s residents
Where Wakefield clocks in
5% of workers
5% of workers
4% 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.
The distance from Wakefield to work
About 22% 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 Wakefield: questions
What is the median household income in Wakefield?
$62,386 (±$8,679) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $93,170 across Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Wakefield?
7.8%, against 9.9% across Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Wakefield?
39 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Virginia and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Wakefield work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Suffolk (5%, 27 mi), Waverly (5%, 7 mi), Richmond (4%, 47 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Wakefield without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Wakefield, from the people who make the trip.
More of Wakefield
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.