Photo: self · CC BY-SA 4.0Wattsville has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.4 for each
Working from home is the commute for 4% of workers, against 18% across Virginia. Employers in Wattsville report 235 jobs, and 554 of its residents work somewhere. Only 3% work in Wattsville itself; outside it, Chincoteague draws the most (6%, 8 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Wattsville at work: what stands out
A big share show a job far from home
40% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Commutes from Wattsville are quick
The average trip to work takes 19 minutes, against 27 across Virginia. That’s about 61 hours a year less on the road than the typical Virginia worker. Time on the road ↓
Few Wattsville workers work from home
Only 4% of workers work from home, against 18% across Virginia. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
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 554 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How Wattsville earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Wattsville is better than 34% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Wattsville’s grade up (8.1%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 15% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (8.8%) is left out: Wattsville’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Wattsville could be anywhere from D to B.
Near or far: the trip to work from Wattsville
About 40% 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.
About 19 minutes each way, quicker than most of Virginia
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Wattsville workers work from home, vs 18% across Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 674 commuters (the 4% 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.
Wattsville by day and by night
On a workday 536 residents head out to work, 18 work right here, and 217 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,100 people are in Wattsville on a workday afternoon, 22% fewer than live here.
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 Wattsville goes to work
Where Wattsville clocks in
6% 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.
A place that makes things: 60% of Wattsville’s jobs are in goods
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Wattsville, 2013 → 2023: 242 → 235. 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 Wattsville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Most trips from Wattsville start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Wattsville is more walkable than 60% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 5.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 5.7% across Virginia, on an EPA index of 5.9.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 700 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). 4.1% of Wattsville households have no vehicle (Virginia 6.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Wattsville’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 5,877 U.S. towns of 1,000 to 1,900, Wattsville comes 3,088th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 15 | Great Falls Crossing VA | 1,414 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | Occoquan VA | 1,078 | $134K | 2.1% | 5.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 87 | Bull Run Mountain Estates VA | 1,827 | $250K | 1.1% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,086 | Gallant AL | 1,081 | $55K | 7.6% | 6.5% | 0% | C |
| 3,087 | Fort Clark Springs TX | 1,048 | $71K | 6.6% | 0.0% | <1% | C |
| 3,088 | Wattsville VA | 1,439 | $69K | 8.1% | 8.8% | 3% | C |
| 3,089 | Brightwood VA | 1,325 | $71K | 10.0% | 5.6% | <1% | C |
| 3,090 | Andrews IN | 1,062 | $50K | 7.8% | 6.7% | 2% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 5,877 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Wattsville, the top three, the last and three more from Virginia.
Next door to Wattsville
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Wattsville workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wattsville | – | C | B | 19 min | $69,380 |
| Atlantic | under 2% | — | — | 29 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Atlantic: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Wattsville’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 Wattsville: questions
What is the median household income in Wattsville?
$69,380 (±$11,661) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $93,170 across Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Wattsville?
8.1%, against 9.9% across Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Wattsville?
19 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Virginia and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Wattsville work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Chincoteague (6%, 8 mi), Accomac (5%, 17 mi), Salisbury (4%, 31 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Wattsville walkable?
Wattsville is more walkable than 60% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 5.9 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Wattsville without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Wattsville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Wattsville
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.