Commuting Patterns in Virginia

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Commuting patterns can reveal important information about communities—how people access jobs, how regions are linked economically, and where transportation and housing investments might be needed. To help illuminate commuting flows within Virginia and its 133 localities, we created the Virginia Commuting Patterns dashboard. We have used the most recent commuting data, which is from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2022 Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics (LEHD) Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES). 

Limitations of the LODES Dataset

The Virginia Commuting Pattern dashboard, using the U.S. Census Bureau’s latest LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES) from 2022, provides easy access to valuable data on county-level commuting trends. Although the information is based on reliable administrative data, users should consider several limitations.

  1. Data Coverage
    The LODES data is limited to jobs covered by state unemployment insurance programs, excluding military personnel, the self-employed, and informal workers. Additionally, it only captures primary jobs at the beginning of each quarter, omitting secondary and short-term employment. Starting with the 2010 data release, federal jobs were added using data from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), but coverage remains incomplete for security purposes. In 2015, new suppression rules further reduced the number of reported federal jobs.
  2. Work Location
    Job locations in the LODES data are the address of the employer’s establishment, which may or may not be the actual location where the work is performed. The data also cannot distinguish between remote, hybrid, or on-site work. For example, an employee who lives in a different locality from the job site and works from home would be counted as a commuter in this data.
  3. Timeliness
    The latest data is from 2022. The lag may limit the analysis of recent commuting trends, especially given the change in remote- or hybrid-working policies.

For more information about the Census Bureau’s LODES data, please visit the LEHD main page.