Photo: APK · CC BY-SA 4.0There are 2.1 jobs in Winchester for every working resident, and 21,984 people commute in
About one in four work in Winchester; the top destination outside it is Front Royal (1%, 17 miles). There are 25,567 jobs in Winchester, and 12,316 of its residents work somewhere. For jobs and income Winchester is better than 26% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns (A).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Winchester
No single place dominates Winchester’s commute
The biggest draw, Front Royal, gets only 1% of working residents, and 61% work outside the top ten towns entirely. Winchester residents fan out across the region. The commute map ↓
Winchester draws workers from far and wide
The 25,567 jobs in Winchester are filled from a wide area. Winchester’s own residents hold 14% and the ten next-biggest home towns 9%; the other 77% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Winchester is where the jobs are
Winchester has 25,567 jobs, 2.1 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 42,000 people are in town, 47% more than the 28,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Winchester 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 ↓
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 Winchester’s Jobs & income grade comes from
Job access by car holds Winchester’s grade up (ahead of 67% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (21.5%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Winchester could be anywhere from C− to C+.
Where the people who work in Winchester live
Where Winchester clocks in
1% of workers
1% of workers
1% 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 workday in Winchester: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 8,733 residents head out to work and 3,583 work right here.
About 42,000 people are in Winchester on a workday afternoon, 47% more than live here.
2.1 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.
Time on the road from Winchester: about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Winchester workers work from home, vs 18% across Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 11,487 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.
The kinds of work in Winchester
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Winchester, 2013 → 2023: 24,832 → 25,567. 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 Winchester’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The distance from Winchester to work
About 24% 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.
Winchester is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 13,356 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). 9.4% of Winchester households have no vehicle (Virginia 6.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Winchester’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Winchester is 1,233rd among 1,409 U.S. towns of 20,000 to 38,000
| # | 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 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 12 | Rose Hill VA | 21,066 | $175K | 2.6% | 2.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 13 | Oakton VA | 36,528 | $161K | 4.6% | 1.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,231 | Graham NC | 20,131 | $56K | 16.8% | 6.8% | 8% | C |
| 1,232 | Ashland OR | 20,889 | $68K | 15.2% | 6.2% | 40% | C |
| 1,233 | Winchester VA | 28,272 | $64K | 21.5% | 6.4% | 29% | C |
| 1,234 | Rock Springs WY | 22,936 | $69K | 16.1% | 5.2% | 54% | C |
| 1,235 | Garfield Heights OH | 28,790 | $55K | 22.0% | 8.4% | 6% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 1,409 | Barstow CA | 24,804 | $53K | 23.1% | 11.9% | 17% | 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 Winchester, 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.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Winchester: questions
What is the median household income in Winchester?
$63,974 (±$2,269) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $93,170 across Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Winchester?
21.5%, against 9.9% across Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Winchester?
20 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Virginia and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Winchester work?
29% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Front Royal (1%, 17 mi), Leesburg (1%, 33 mi), Harrisonburg (1%, 63 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Winchester walkable?
Winchester is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 9.6 out of 20, and 8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Winchester without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Winchester, from the people who make the trip.
More of Winchester
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.