Photo: Ron Cogswell · CC BY 2.041% of Williamsburg’s residents are college students
Williamsburg grades B for jobs and income and A+ for walkability. For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 0.2 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 11.4 in Norfolk. About one in five work in Williamsburg; the top destination outside it is Newport News (9%, 17 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Williamsburg, in a few figures
Williamsburg is where the jobs are
Williamsburg has 11,325 jobs, 2.5 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 23,000 people are in town, 42% more than the 16,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
Williamsburg draws workers from far and wide
The 11,325 jobs in Williamsburg are filled from a wide area. Williamsburg’s own residents hold 9% and the ten next-biggest home towns 23%; the other 68% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Commutes from Williamsburg are quick
The average trip to work takes 20 minutes, against 27 across Virginia. That’s about 54 hours a year less on the road than the typical Virginia worker. Time on the road ↓
Nearly all the work in Williamsburg is services
89% of the jobs based here are in services, such as health care, schools and offices. Only 2% are in factories, building or farms. The jobs ↓
The biggest group of Williamsburg’s workers comes from Newport News
1,311 of the people who work in Williamsburg live in Newport News, 17 miles away, more than from any other town. The commute map ↓
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.
Where Williamsburg’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On family income, poverty and job access, Williamsburg is better than 65% of U.S. towns, #150 of 253 in Virginia. Family income holds Williamsburg’s grade up ($110,259, U.S. $99,999); the poverty rate pulls it down (10.6%, U.S. 11.9%). It also does well on job access by car.
Where students are 15% or more of the people the Census checks for poverty (16% here), the grade uses the rate without them: 10.6%, against 18.8% for all residents. Unemployment (6.8%) is left out here: students looking for part-time work count as unemployed. Income is ranked as median family income ($110,259), since student households pull the household median down ($75,604).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for family income and poverty, Williamsburg could be anywhere from B− to A.
Williamsburg on a workday afternoon
On a workday 3,614 residents head out to work, 979 work right here, and 10,346 people come in from elsewhere.
About 23,000 people are in Williamsburg on a workday afternoon, 42% more than live here.
2.5 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.
Where the people who work in Williamsburg live
Where Williamsburg clocks in
9% of workers
4% 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.
About 20 minutes each way for Williamsburg’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Williamsburg workers work from home, vs 18% across Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,246 commuters (the 18% 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.
Williamsburg is a services town
11,325 jobs are based in Williamsburg.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Williamsburg, 2013 → 2023: 11,383 → 11,325. 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 Williamsburg’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Miles to work from Williamsburg
About 18% 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.
Williamsburg is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Williamsburg is more walkable than 95% of U.S. towns, #37 of 253 in Virginia. Both inputs place Williamsburg 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 6,408 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 37% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.2 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 44% 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). 6.5% of Williamsburg households have no vehicle (Virginia 6.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Williamsburg’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 2,109 U.S. towns of 11,000 to 21,000, Williamsburg comes 1,046th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 8 | Wolf Trap VA | 15,858 | $250K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 20 | Wakefield VA | 11,930 | $238K | 1.8% | 2.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 32 | Franconia VA | 18,335 | $152K | 2.8% | 2.7% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,044 | Upper Grand Lagoon FL | 17,232 | $82K | 8.1% | 2.6% | 13% | B |
| 1,045 | White Oak OH | 19,216 | $70K | 8.2% | 4.0% | 3% | B |
| 1,046 | Williamsburg VA | 15,861 | $76K | 18.8% | 6.8% | 21% | B |
| 1,047 | Kittery ME | 11,420 | $94K | 6.4% | 5.4% | 20% | B |
| 1,048 | Lincoln Township MI | 14,814 | $98K | 5.8% | 5.6% | 11% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 2,109 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Williamsburg, 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.
- Students. 41% of residents are college students; the poverty input leaves off-campus students out (above).
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Williamsburg: questions
What is the median household income in Williamsburg?
$75,604 (±$10,916) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $93,170 across Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Williamsburg?
18.8% of residents live below the poverty line; leaving out college students, 10.6%. Virginia: 9.9%.
How long is the commute from Williamsburg?
20 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Virginia and 26 nationally. 18% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Williamsburg work?
21% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Newport News (9%, 17 mi), Norfolk (4%, 35 mi), Virginia Beach (4%, 50 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Williamsburg walkable?
Williamsburg is more walkable than 95% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 10.5 out of 20, and 19% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Williamsburg without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Williamsburg, from the people who make the trip.
More of Williamsburg
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.