Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Household incomes in Waynesboro trail those of 74% of U.S. towns
At home: 10% of workers have no commute at all (Virginia 18%). Poverty touches 11.2% of residents; Virginia has 9.9%. Waynesboro grades C+ for jobs and income and B+ for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Waynesboro at work: what stands out
Waynesboro trades workers with the towns around it
Waynesboro has about as many jobs (9,586) as working residents (10,300), but they are mostly different people: 8,334 residents leave for work each day while 7,620 people come in. Only 21% of the jobs in Waynesboro are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Waynesboro are quick
The average trip to work takes 21 minutes, against 27 across Virginia. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical Virginia worker. 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.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Waynesboro
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Waynesboro is better than 36% of U.S. towns, #200 of 253 in Virginia. Job access by car holds Waynesboro’s grade up (ahead of 56% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($59,994, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Waynesboro could be anywhere from C− to B−.
Waynesboro on a workday afternoon
On a workday 8,334 residents head out to work, 1,966 work right here, and 7,620 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 (0.93 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.
About 21 minutes each way for Waynesboro’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Waynesboro workers work from home, vs 18% across Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 9,876 commuters (the 10% 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.
9% of working residents work in Stuarts Draft
Where Waynesboro clocks in
9% of workers
6% of workers
6% 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.
What the 9,586 jobs in Waynesboro are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Waynesboro, 2013 → 2023: 9,873 → 9,586. 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 Waynesboro’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Miles to work from Waynesboro
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.
In Waynesboro, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Waynesboro is more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns, #135 of 253 in Virginia. Both inputs place Waynesboro 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 11,010 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). 5.8% of Waynesboro households have no vehicle (Virginia 6.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Waynesboro’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 1,577 U.S. towns of 17,000 to 32,000, Waynesboro comes 1,231st on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Lake Forest IL | 19,731 | $235K | 3.5% | 1.8% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 12 | Rose Hill VA | 21,066 | $175K | 2.6% | 2.7% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 17 | Franconia VA | 18,335 | $152K | 2.8% | 2.7% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,229 | Greenville Township OH | 17,035 | $52K | 12.0% | 3.6% | 38% | C+ |
| 1,230 | Tullahoma TN | 21,279 | $61K | 18.0% | 3.2% | 30% | C+ |
| 1,231 | Waynesboro VA | 23,951 | $60K | 11.2% | 5.1% | 19% | C+ |
| 1,232 | Union City GA | 29,910 | $50K | 14.2% | 5.8% | 5% | C+ |
| 1,233 | Moline Township IL | 22,531 | $62K | 15.0% | 6.1% | 10% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,577 | Nogales AZ | 19,495 | $43K | 28.0% | 15.7% | 37% | 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 Waynesboro, the top three, the last and three more from Virginia.
The towns around Waynesboro
The biggest share goes to Fishersville (6%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Waynesboro workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Waynesboro | – | C+ | B+ | 21 min | $59,994 |
| Fishersville | 6% | B− | C | 24 min | $83,671 |
| Lyndhurst | under 2% | B+ | D | 21 min | $76,111 |
| Dooms | under 2% | A− | D− | 30 min | $87,292 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Waynesboro’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 Waynesboro: questions
What is the median household income in Waynesboro?
$59,994 (±$3,755) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $93,170 across Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Waynesboro?
11.2%, against 9.9% across Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Waynesboro?
21 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Virginia and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Waynesboro work?
19% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Stuarts Draft (9%, 8 mi), Fishersville (6%, 5 mi), Staunton (6%, 11 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Waynesboro walkable?
Waynesboro is more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.0 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Waynesboro 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 Waynesboro, from the people who make the trip.
More of Waynesboro
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.