How Brush Fork works: jobs, income and commuting
The average commute takes 19 minutes each way, next to 27 for West Virginia and 26 for the U.S. For jobs and income Brush Fork is better than 39% of U.S. towns (C+); for walkability it is more walkable than 14% of U.S. towns (D). Hardly any work in Brush Fork itself; outside it, Princeton draws the most (14%, 10 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Brush Fork, in a few figures
The jobs in Brush Fork pay better than its residents’ jobs
79% of the jobs based in Brush Fork pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), against 46% of the jobs Brush Fork residents hold. 99% of the jobs here are held by people who live outside Brush Fork. The jobs ↓
A lot of Brush Fork workers cross into Virginia
19% of Brush Fork workers work outside West Virginia, the Census survey finds. In the commute data, Bluefield (6%), Tazewell (2%) and Wytheville (2%) are among the top workplaces. The commute map ↓
Commutes from Brush Fork are quick
The average trip to work takes 19 minutes, against 27 across West Virginia. That’s about 61 hours a year less on the road than the typical West Virginia worker. Time on the road ↓
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 332 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Brush Fork
The poverty rate holds Brush Fork’s grade up (9.2%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 31% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (0.0%) is left out: Brush Fork’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, Brush Fork could be anywhere from C− to B+.
A place that makes things: 34% of Brush Fork’s jobs are in goods
301 jobs are based in Brush Fork.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Brush Fork, 2013 → 2023: 383 → 301. 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 Brush Fork’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where the trip to work from Brush Fork ends
Where Brush Fork clocks in
14% of workers
11% 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.
Each way, about 19 minutes from Brush Fork
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Brush Fork workers work from home, vs 9% across West Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 395 commuters (the 14% 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.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 329 residents head out to work, 3 work right here, and 298 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 (0.91 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.
Half of Brush Fork commutes less than 10 miles
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.
Few in Brush Fork walk, bike or ride to work
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 460 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). 3.1% of Brush Fork households have no vehicle (West Virginia 8.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Brush Fork’s commuters take a bus or train.
Brush Fork is 1,721st of 3,771 U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 470 | Belle WV | 1,088 | $77K | 3.3% | 10.6% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 605 | Barrackville WV | 1,196 | $79K | 4.1% | 3.7% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 719 | Coal Fork WV | 1,423 | $70K | 2.3% | 29.5% | <1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,719 | Tusten NY | 1,436 | $76K | 6.4% | 9.8% | 11% | C+ |
| 1,720 | Cass Township PA | 1,004 | $79K | 6.7% | 0.0% | 2% | C+ |
| 1,721 | Brush Fork WV | 1,096 | $70K | 9.2% | 0.0% | 1% | C+ |
| 1,722 | Sterling City TX | 1,094 | $67K | 3.8% | 2.5% | 12% | C+ |
| 1,723 | Wayne Township PA | 1,458 | $72K | 12.1% | 4.4% | 3% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,771 | 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 Brush Fork, 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 Brush Fork: questions
What is the median household income in Brush Fork?
$70,098 (±$5,678) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $59,608 across West Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Brush Fork?
9.2%, against 16.7% across West Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Brush Fork?
19 minutes each way on average, against 27 across West Virginia and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Brush Fork work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Princeton (14%, 10 mi), Bluefield (11%, 2 mi), Bluefield (6%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Brush Fork walkable?
Brush Fork is more walkable than 14% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 6.0 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Brush Fork without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Brush Fork, from the people who make the trip.
More of Brush Fork
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.