Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0Households in Bluefield have lower incomes than those in 83% of U.S. towns
15.6% of residents live below the poverty line, where Virginia as a whole has 9.9%. Jobs and income earn Bluefield C; getting around on foot earns it B. Home is the office for 8% of workers, next to 18% for Virginia as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Bluefield: the gist
Many of the people who work in Bluefield live in another state
Bluefield, WV (10%), Princeton, WV (2%) and Bluewell, WV (2%) are among the top places Bluefield’s workers come from. Counting only the top ten home towns, 15% of the jobs here are held by people from out of state. The commute map ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Bluefield
50% of Bluefield residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 31% of the jobs based in Bluefield pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 89% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
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.
The figures behind Bluefield’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Bluefield is better than 29% of U.S. towns, #218 of 253 in Virginia. Unemployment holds Bluefield’s grade up (3.4%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($54,041, U.S. $80,734).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Bluefield could be anywhere from D to B.
11% of working residents work in Tazewell
Where Bluefield clocks in
11% of workers
9% of workers
6% 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.
What the 2,525 jobs in Bluefield are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bluefield, 2013 → 2023: 3,289 → 2,525. 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 Bluefield’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A workday in Bluefield: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 1,809 residents head out to work, 217 work right here, and 2,308 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,300 people are in Bluefield on a workday afternoon, 10% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.25 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
From Bluefield, about 29 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bluefield workers work from home, vs 18% across Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,866 commuters (the 8% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Bluefield
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.
Bluefield is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Bluefield is more walkable than 55% of U.S. towns, #180 of 253 in Virginia. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 5.7% across Virginia.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,031 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). 11.6% of Bluefield households have no vehicle (Virginia 6.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Bluefield’s commuters take a bus or train.
2,780th of 3,753: where Bluefield ranks among U.S. towns of 3,400 to 6,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 38 | Navy VA | 3,839 | $239K | 4.4% | 1.5% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 54 | Crosspointe VA | 5,669 | $250K | 3.7% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 82 | Kings Park VA | 4,315 | $166K | 1.9% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,778 | Watertown NY | 5,364 | $70K | 7.5% | 11.0% | 11% | C |
| 2,779 | South Highpoint FL | 4,174 | $61K | 19.1% | 7.9% | 1% | C |
| 2,780 | Bluefield VA | 4,839 | $54K | 15.6% | 3.4% | 11% | C |
| 2,781 | Decatur Township MI | 3,503 | $68K | 18.2% | 4.4% | 10% | C |
| 2,782 | Chippewa Township MI | 4,668 | $65K | 16.4% | 4.4% | 18% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 3,753 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Bluefield, 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 Bluefield: questions
What is the median household income in Bluefield?
$54,041 (±$15,011) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $93,170 across Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bluefield?
15.6%, against 9.9% across Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bluefield?
29 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Virginia and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bluefield work?
11% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Tazewell (11%, 15 mi), Bluefield (9%, 4 mi), Princeton (6%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Bluefield walkable?
Bluefield is more walkable than 55% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.1 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bluefield without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Bluefield, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bluefield
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.