Bernard E. Wilmoth House · Photo: JERRYE & ROY KLOTZ, M.D. · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in Belington are lower than in 90% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 25.2% of residents; West Virginia has 16.7%. Jobs and income earn Belington D−; getting around on foot earns it B−. About one in seven work in Belington itself; outside it, Elkins draws the most (12%, 8 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Belington apart
The better-paid jobs are outside Belington
51% of Belington residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 26% of the jobs based in Belington pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 88% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Many jobs in Belington pay little
32% of the jobs based in Belington pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 651 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Belington
On income, poverty and job access, Belington is better than 4% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Belington’s grade.
Unemployment (5.7%) is left out: Belington’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, Belington could be anywhere from D− to D.
Most jobs in Belington are in services
733 jobs are based in Belington.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Belington, 2014 → 2024: 648 → 733. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Belington’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Belington on a workday afternoon
On a workday 570 residents head out to work, 81 work right here, and 652 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 (1.13 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Where Belington’s working residents head each day
Where Belington clocks in
12% of workers
8% of workers
3% 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.
Each way, about 23 minutes from Belington
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Belington workers work from home, vs 9% across West Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 612 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.
Half of Belington commutes less than 16 miles
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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Most trips from Belington start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Belington is more walkable than 45% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 2.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.5% across West Virginia, on an EPA index of 6.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 657 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). 9.2% of Belington households have no vehicle (West Virginia 8.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Belington’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Belington compares with U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 1% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,254 | Coal Fork WV | 1,423 | $70K | 2.3% | 29.5% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,352 | Eleanor WV | 1,497 | $79K | 5.9% | 0.6% | 6% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,710 | Falling Waters WV | 2,183 | $88K | 4.3% | 10.8% | <1% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 4,959 | Terra Alta WV | 1,413 | $51K | 29.1% | 9.5% | 4% | D− |
| 4,960 | Petersburg WV | 2,282 | $43K | 19.5% | 2.1% | 29% | D− |
| 4,961 | Belington WV | 1,809 | $49K | 25.2% | 5.7% | 12% | D− |
| 4,962 | Bridgeport Township IL | 2,126 | $52K | 23.4% | 7.3% | 7% | D− |
| 4,963 | Jefferson Township IN | 1,409 | $47K | 23.0% | 0.0% | <1% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,343 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 7% | 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 Belington, 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 2024, 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 Belington: questions
What is the median household income in Belington?
$48,508 (±$8,374) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $59,608 across West Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Belington?
25.2%, against 16.7% across West Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Belington?
23 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 Belington work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Elkins (12%, 8 mi), Philippi (8%, 11 mi), Buckhannon (3%, 16 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Belington walkable?
Belington is more walkable than 45% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 6.2 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Belington without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Belington, from the people who make the trip.
More of Belington
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.