Photo: Ken Thomas · Public domainHousehold incomes in Ansted trail those of 97% of U.S. towns
Ansted grades D− for jobs and income and D− for walkability. The poverty rate is 27.2%, against 16.7% across West Virginia. Only 6% work in Ansted itself; outside it, Fayetteville draws the most (9%, 5 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Ansted, in brief
Ansted’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty and job access, Ansted is near the bottom of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Ansted’s grade.
Unemployment (2.5%) is left out: Ansted’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Ansted could be anywhere from D− to C.
From Ansted, about 38 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 12 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ansted workers work from home, vs 9% across West Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 505 commuters (the 7% 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.
How many people are in Ansted by day
On a workday 411 residents head out to work, 28 work right here, and 262 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,100 people are in Ansted on a workday afternoon, 12% fewer than live here.
0.66 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
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 Ansted’s working residents head each day
Where Ansted clocks in
7% of workers
5% 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 Ansted, services account for most jobs
290 jobs are based in Ansted.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ansted, 2013 → 2023: 309 → 290. 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 Ansted’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Ansted
About 25% 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.
Most trips from Ansted start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Ansted is more walkable than 4% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Ansted near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 542 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). 4.6% of Ansted households have no vehicle (West Virginia 8.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Ansted’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ansted next to U.S. towns of 900 to 1,700
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 633 | Belle WV | 1,088 | $77K | 3.3% | 10.6% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 805 | Barrackville WV | 1,196 | $79K | 4.1% | 3.7% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 953 | Coal Fork WV | 1,423 | $70K | 2.3% | 29.5% | <1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,738 | Bruce MS | 1,608 | $27K | 31.1% | 3.2% | 14% | D− |
| 4,739 | Wister OK | 1,068 | $37K | 25.3% | 4.5% | 3% | D− |
| 4,740 | Ansted WV | 1,273 | $38K | 27.2% | 2.5% | 6% | D− |
| 4,741 | Ashland ME | 1,186 | $47K | 23.6% | 1.6% | 19% | D− |
| 4,742 | East Millinocket ME | 1,567 | $42K | 21.7% | 6.3% | 13% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,866 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Ansted, the top three, the last and three more from West 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 Ansted: questions
What is the median household income in Ansted?
$38,375 (±$37,907) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $59,608 across West Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ansted?
27.2%, against 16.7% across West Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ansted?
38 minutes each way on average, against 27 across West Virginia and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ansted work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Fayetteville (9%, 5 mi), Charleston (7%, 32 mi), Beckley (5%, 25 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Ansted walkable?
Ansted is more walkable than 4% of U.S. towns (Walkability D−): an EPA walkability index of 4.4 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ansted without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Ansted, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ansted
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.