Photo: MarkMcCain · CC BY-SA 4.0Bluefield has lower household incomes than 89% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 18.5% of residents, against 16.7% across West Virginia. Jobs and income earn Bluefield C−; getting around on foot earns it B+. About one in seven work in Bluefield; the top destination outside it is Princeton (13%, 10 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Bluefield
Bluefield trades workers with the towns around it
Bluefield has about as many jobs (3,114) as working residents (3,371), but they are mostly different people: 2,847 residents leave for work each day while 2,590 people come in. Only 17% of the jobs in Bluefield are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Bluefield than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Bluefield fell from 5,245 in 2013 to 3,114 in 2023, −41%. 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 ↓
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 20% of U.S. towns, #45 of 61 in West Virginia. Unemployment holds Bluefield’s grade up (4.4%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($49,375, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Bluefield could be anywhere from D to C+.
How many people are in Bluefield by day
On a workday 2,847 residents head out to work, 524 work right here, and 2,590 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 (0.92 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.
The 3,114 jobs based in Bluefield
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bluefield, 2013 → 2023: 5,245 → 3,114. 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.
Where people from Bluefield work
Where Bluefield clocks in
13% of workers
8% 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.
Commuting from Bluefield: about 24 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bluefield workers work from home, vs 9% across West Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,516 commuters (the 11% 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 miles Bluefield commutes
About 19% 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.
Driving is how Bluefield gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Bluefield is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns, #34 of 61 in West Virginia. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.5% across West Virginia.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 3,930 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). 11.3% of Bluefield households have no vehicle (West Virginia 8.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Bluefield’s commuters take a bus or train.
Bluefield next to U.S. towns of 6,400 to 12,400: 2,490th of 2,886 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Pimmit Hills VA | 6,589 | $173K | 1.6% | 1.3% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Braddock VA | 6,536 | $212K | 0.9% | 1.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 641 | Bridgeport WV | 9,427 | $100K | 3.9% | 2.3% | 28% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 686 | Cheat Lake WV | 10,902 | $117K | 6.5% | 2.2% | 6% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,262 | Ranson corporation WV | 6,853 | $90K | 12.0% | 2.5% | 11% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,488 | Boonville MO | 7,867 | $56K | 14.3% | 5.8% | 29% | C− |
| 2,489 | Park Hills MO | 8,753 | $53K | 14.4% | 5.9% | 13% | C− |
| 2,490 | Bluefield WV | 9,158 | $49K | 18.5% | 4.4% | 16% | C− |
| 2,491 | Atchison KS | 10,789 | $54K | 15.8% | 5.3% | 40% | C− |
| 2,492 | Saybrook Township OH | 9,566 | $58K | 13.5% | 7.5% | 9% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,886 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 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 Bluefield: questions
What is the median household income in Bluefield?
$49,375 (±$12,534) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $59,608 across West Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bluefield?
18.5%, against 16.7% across West Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bluefield?
24 minutes each way on average, against 27 across West Virginia and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bluefield work?
16% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Princeton (13%, 10 mi), Bluefield (8%, 4 mi), Beckley (5%, 35 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Bluefield walkable?
Bluefield is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.4 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bluefield without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 11% 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.