Work & commute · Cape Charles

Work & commute in Cape Charles, VA

Most working residents leave Cape Charles for work: only 18% work in town. The top destinations are Virginia Beach (7%), Norfolk (5%) and Exmore (3%). Half commute less than 29 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

18%

101 of 549 working residents

Typical commute

29 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

18 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

16%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 448 Cape Charles residents head out of town to work, 101 work right here, and 559 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Cape Charles.

448live here, work elsewhere

101live and work here

559work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Cape Charles goes to work

Cape Charles (in town)right here

18%101

Virginia Beach32.6 mi away

7%36

Norfolk26.1 mi away

5%30

Exmore21.7 mi away

3%16

Chesapeake42.7 mi away

3%16

Newport News30.6 mi away

3%14

Eastville7.9 mi away

2%11

Washington, DC126.7 mi away

1%8

Hampton21.2 mi away

1%8

Cheriton3.9 mi away

1%7

Everywhere elseother towns and states

55%302

Lines run between town centers; a thicker line means more commuters. The top 10 towns each way.

How far

How far Cape Charles commutes

Straight-line distance from home to work, for every working resident. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

31%

14%

25%

30%

31%Under 10 mi

14%10–24 mi

25%25–50 mi

30%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Cape Charles is balanced between jobs and homes

1.20jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (1.20 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Cape Charles are

660 jobs are based in Cape Charles. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Cape Charles’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Cape Charles

660 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)32%

Trade, transport & utilities14%

Services (health, schools, offices…)54%

$1,250 a month or less23%

$1,251–$3,333 a month36%

Over $3,333 a month40%

Jobs Cape Charles residents hold

549 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)18%

Trade, transport & utilities16%

Services (health, schools, offices…)65%

$1,250 a month or less19%

$1,251–$3,333 a month30%

Over $3,333 a month51%

+116%

Jobs based in Cape Charles, 2013 → 2023: 305 → 660. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.

About these numbers

How to read this page

Every worker, home to workThe Census links each worker’s home block to their main job’s block, for jobs covered by unemployment insurance. That’s most jobs, but not the self-employed.

Where the employer saysA job counts where the employer reports it. Some big employers report one address for many sites, which can make a few commutes look longer than they are.

Two surveysFlows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time and working from home: the Census American Community Survey.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs; American Community Survey 5-year estimates.