Photo: CZmarlin — This image is licensed under the Creative Commons license assuming that proper attribution (Christopher Ziemnowicz) is provided. If you use this image anywhere other than Wikipedia please leave a note at Wikipedia [1]. · CC BY 3.0Jobs and earnings in Alderson, and the trip to work
Only 2% work in Alderson itself; outside it, Lewisburg draws the most (16%, 13 miles). Working from home is the commute for 2% of workers, where West Virginia as a whole has 9%. A typical one-way commute lasts 61 minutes (West Virginia 27, U.S. 26).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Alderson stands out on work
About 61 minutes each way, longer than most of West Virginia
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 19.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Alderson workers work from home, vs 9% across West Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 293 commuters (the 2% who work from home are left out). Across West Virginia: 86% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
In and out of Alderson on a workday
On a workday 328 residents head out to work, 8 work right here, and 280 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.86 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.
Where Alderson’s working residents head each day
Where Alderson clocks in
16% of workers
5% of workers
4% 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.
In Alderson, services account for most jobs
288 jobs are based in Alderson.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Alderson, 2013 → 2023: 216 → 288. 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 Alderson’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute from Alderson, by distance
About 23% 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.
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 Alderson: questions
What is the median household income in Alderson?
$32,212 (±$11,891) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $59,608 across West Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Alderson?
45.8%, against 16.7% across West Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Alderson?
61 minutes each way on average, against 27 across West Virginia and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Alderson work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lewisburg (16%, 13 mi), Fairlea (5%, 11 mi), Beckley (4%, 28 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Alderson without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 15% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Alderson, from the people who make the trip.
More of Alderson
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.