Photo: Carol M. Highsmith · Public domainWork and commuting in Arthurdale
The trip to work takes 28 minutes on average, next to 27 for West Virginia and 26 for the U.S. Only 4% work in Arthurdale; the top destination outside it is Morgantown (18%, 12 miles). Employers in Arthurdale report 310 jobs, against 407 working residents.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Arthurdale, in a few figures
Arthurdale makes and builds things
53% of the jobs based in Arthurdale are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Arthurdale residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 20%. The jobs ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Arthurdale than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Arthurdale fell from 514 in 2013 to 310 in 2023, −40%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
Most jobs in Arthurdale pay over $40,000 a year
75% of the jobs based in Arthurdale pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), the top earnings band in the Census data. 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; with 407 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
A place that makes things: 53% of Arthurdale’s jobs are in goods
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Arthurdale, 2013 → 2023: 514 → 310. 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 Arthurdale’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The workday shuffle in and out of Arthurdale
On a workday 392 residents head out to work, 15 work right here, and 295 people come in from elsewhere.
About 890 people are in Arthurdale on a workday afternoon, 10% fewer than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.76 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 the trip to work from Arthurdale ends
Where Arthurdale clocks in
18% of workers
10% 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.
From Arthurdale, about 28 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Arthurdale workers work from home, vs 9% across West Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 482 commuters (the 12% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Arthurdale
About 18% 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 Arthurdale: questions
What is the median household income in Arthurdale?
$81,285 (±$11,771) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $59,608 across West Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Arthurdale?
7.2%, against 16.7% across West Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Arthurdale?
28 minutes each way on average, against 27 across West Virginia and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Arthurdale work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Morgantown (18%, 12 mi), Kingwood (10%, 7 mi), Reedsville (4%, 1 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Arthurdale without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Arthurdale, from the people who make the trip.
More of Arthurdale
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.