Work & commute · Colonial Beach

Work & commute in Colonial Beach, VA

Most working residents leave Colonial Beach for work: only 10% work in town. The top destinations are Washington (5%), King George (4%) and Arlington (3%). Half commute less than 41 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

10%

164 of 1,616 working residents

Typical commute

41 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

40 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

11%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 1,452 Colonial Beach residents head out of town to work, 164 work right here, and 513 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Colonial Beach.

1,452live here, work elsewhere

164live and work here

513work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Colonial Beach goes to work

Colonial Beach (in town)right here

10%164

Washington, DC44.5 mi away

5%79

King George10.4 mi away

4%58

Arlington43 mi away

3%50

Richmond56.8 mi away

3%48

Fredericksburg26.8 mi away

2%38

Waldorf, MD25 mi away

2%35

Dahlgren6.7 mi away

2%35

La Plata, MD19.5 mi away

2%31

Alexandria38.8 mi away

1%20

Everywhere elseother towns and states

65%1,058

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

How far

How far Colonial Beach commutes

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

18%

12%

39%

31%

18%Under 10 mi

12%10–24 mi

39%25–50 mi

31%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Colonial Beach is a commuter town

0.42jobs per working resident

A commuter town

0.42 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.

The jobs

What the jobs in Colonial Beach are

677 jobs are based in Colonial Beach. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Colonial Beach’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Colonial Beach

677 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)7%

Trade, transport & utilities18%

Services (health, schools, offices…)75%

$1,250 a month or less21%

$1,251–$3,333 a month34%

Over $3,333 a month45%

Jobs Colonial Beach residents hold

1,616 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)12%

Trade, transport & utilities20%

Services (health, schools, offices…)68%

$1,250 a month or less17%

$1,251–$3,333 a month30%

Over $3,333 a month53%

+25%

Jobs based in Colonial Beach, 2013 → 2023: 541 → 677. 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.