Henderson Hall Historic District · Photo: Chrispainter1966 · CC BY-SA 3.0Most of Boaz commutes out: there are 0.3 jobs for every working resident
146 jobs are based in Boaz, against 568 working residents. Jobs and income earn Boaz C+; getting around on foot earns it C. Hardly any work in Boaz itself; outside it, Parkersburg draws the most (23%, 8 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Boaz, in a few figures
Fewer jobs are based in Boaz than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Boaz fell from 520 in 2013 to 146 in 2023, −72%. 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 ↓
Boaz and Parkersburg trade workers both ways
Parkersburg is the top workplace for Boaz residents (23%) and also where the most people who work in Boaz come from (15% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Boaz is a place people come home to
There are 146 jobs based in Boaz, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Boaz has about 980 people in it, 30% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
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 568 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Boaz
On income, poverty and job access, Boaz is better than 39% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Boaz’s grade.
Unemployment (1.0%) is left out: Boaz’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, Boaz could be anywhere from C− to B+.
What Boaz’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Boaz, 2013 → 2023: 520 → 146. 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 Boaz’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where Boaz’s working residents head each day
Where Boaz clocks in
23% of workers
10% of workers
6% 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.
The daily commute in and out of Boaz
On a workday 563 residents head out to work, 5 work right here, and 141 people come in from elsewhere.
About 980 people are in Boaz on a workday afternoon, 30% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
How long Boaz spends getting to work: about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Boaz workers work from home, vs 9% across West Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 574 commuters (the 8% 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.
Boaz’s commute, mile by mile
About 26% 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.
Few in Boaz walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Boaz is more walkable than 32% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 2.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.5% across West Virginia, on an EPA index of 5.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 622 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). 6.7% of Boaz households have no vehicle (West Virginia 8.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Boaz’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 5,877 U.S. towns of 1,000 to 1,900, Boaz comes 2,726th on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 799 | Belle WV | 1,088 | $77K | 3.3% | 10.6% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,016 | Barrackville WV | 1,196 | $79K | 4.1% | 3.7% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,197 | Coal Fork WV | 1,423 | $70K | 2.3% | 29.5% | <1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,724 | Silver Lake Township PA | 1,498 | $87K | 14.2% | 4.4% | 3% | C+ |
| 2,725 | Red Corral CA | 1,096 | $86K | 7.8% | 6.1% | 1% | C+ |
| 2,726 | Boaz WV | 1,400 | $73K | 10.6% | 1.0% | 1% | C+ |
| 2,727 | Meade KS | 1,422 | $75K | 6.6% | 0.0% | 37% | C+ |
| 2,728 | Holliday TX | 1,733 | $63K | 8.7% | 5.5% | 4% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,877 | 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 Boaz, the top three, the last and three more from West Virginia.
Around Boaz: the bordering towns
The biggest share goes to Warren Township (3%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Boaz workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boaz | – | C+ | C | 22 min | $72,560 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Boaz’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Boaz: questions
What is the median household income in Boaz?
$72,560 (±$17,268) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $59,608 across West Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Boaz?
10.6%, against 16.7% across West Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Boaz?
22 minutes each way on average, against 27 across West Virginia and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Boaz work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Parkersburg (23%, 8 mi), Marietta (10%, 4 mi), Vienna (6%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Boaz walkable?
Boaz is more walkable than 32% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 5.4 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Boaz without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Boaz, from the people who make the trip.
More of Boaz
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.