Work & commute · Colonial Heights

Work & commute in Colonial Heights, VA

Most working residents leave Colonial Heights for work: only 13% work in town. The top destinations are Richmond (11%), Petersburg (5%) and Hopewell (2%). Half commute less than 18 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

13%

1,085 of 8,177 working residents

Typical commute

18 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

26 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 7,092 Colonial Heights residents head out of town to work, 1,085 work right here, and 7,679 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Colonial Heights.

7,092live here, work elsewhere

1,085live and work here

7,679work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Colonial Heights goes to work

Colonial Heights (in town)right here

13%1,085

Richmond19.1 mi away

11%931

Petersburg3.9 mi away

5%395

Hopewell5.7 mi away

2%202

Chester6.6 mi away

2%153

Newport News49.9 mi away

1%108

Innsbrook28.8 mi away

1%93

Virginia Beach82.5 mi away

1%90

Norfolk67.7 mi away

1%84

Chesapeake72.6 mi away

1%83

Everywhere elseother towns and states

61%4,953

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

How far

How far Colonial Heights commutes

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

40%

30%

12%

18%

40%Under 10 mi

30%10–24 mi

12%25–50 mi

18%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Colonial Heights is balanced between jobs and homes

1.07jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (1.07 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Colonial Heights are

8,764 jobs are based in Colonial Heights. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Colonial Heights’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Colonial Heights

8,764 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)4%

Trade, transport & utilities33%

Services (health, schools, offices…)63%

$1,250 a month or less24%

$1,251–$3,333 a month40%

Over $3,333 a month36%

Jobs Colonial Heights residents hold

8,177 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)14%

Trade, transport & utilities23%

Services (health, schools, offices…)62%

$1,250 a month or less14%

$1,251–$3,333 a month32%

Over $3,333 a month55%

−2%

Jobs based in Colonial Heights, 2013 → 2023: 8,954 → 8,764. 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.