Household incomes in Cross Lanes trail those of 68% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 5.1% of residents, against 16.7% across West Virginia. Jobs and income earn Cross Lanes B; getting around on foot earns it B−. Only 4% work in Cross Lanes; the top destination outside it is Charleston (32%, 10 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Cross Lanes, in a few figures
Where Cross Lanes’ Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Cross Lanes is better than 64% of U.S. towns, #9 of 61 in West Virginia. The poverty rate holds Cross Lanes’ grade up; household income pulls it down ($63,537, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on unemployment and job access by car.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Cross Lanes could be anywhere from C+ to A−.
Where the trip to work from Cross Lanes ends
Where Cross Lanes clocks in
32% of workers
10% 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.
Who leaves Cross Lanes for work, and who comes in
On a workday 3,967 residents head out to work, 175 work right here, and 2,271 people come in from elsewhere.
About 8,000 people are in Cross Lanes on a workday afternoon, 18% fewer than live here.
0.59 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
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 2,446 jobs based in Cross Lanes
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Cross Lanes, 2013 → 2023: 2,383 → 2,446. 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 Cross Lanes’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Time on the road from Cross Lanes: about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Cross Lanes workers work from home, vs 9% across West Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,498 commuters (the 10% 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 Cross Lanes commutes less than 10 miles
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 Cross Lanes gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Cross Lanes is more walkable than 52% of U.S. towns, #45 of 61 in West Virginia. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.4% 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 4,971 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). 3.9% of Cross Lanes households have no vehicle (West Virginia 8.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Cross Lanes’ commuters take a bus or train.
How Cross Lanes ranks: 1,281st of 2,780 U.S. towns of 6,800 to 13,100
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 618 | Bridgeport WV | 9,427 | $100K | 3.9% | 2.3% | 28% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 662 | Cheat Lake WV | 10,902 | $117K | 6.5% | 2.2% | 6% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,225 | Ranson corporation WV | 6,853 | $90K | 12.0% | 2.5% | 11% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,279 | Gunbarrel CO | 10,051 | $109K | 8.8% | 6.2% | 3% | B |
| 1,280 | Northridge OH | 7,817 | $85K | 8.2% | 4.3% | 2% | B |
| 1,281 | Cross Lanes WV | 9,671 | $64K | 5.1% | 3.5% | 4% | B |
| 1,282 | Keansburg NJ | 9,818 | $81K | 10.7% | 4.5% | 7% | B |
| 1,283 | Charter Oak CA | 9,442 | $88K | 8.0% | 7.8% | 1% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 2,780 | 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 Cross Lanes, the top three, the last and three more from West Virginia.
How Cross Lanes compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Nitro (3%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Cross Lanes workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cross Lanes | – | B | B− | 26 min | $63,537 |
| Nitro | 3% | C− | A− | 25 min | $53,848 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Cross Lanes’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 Cross Lanes: questions
What is the median household income in Cross Lanes?
$63,537 (±$4,112) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $59,608 across West Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Cross Lanes?
5.1%, against 16.7% across West Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Cross Lanes?
26 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 Cross Lanes work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Charleston (32%, 10 mi), South Charleston (10%, 8 mi), Nitro (3%, 3 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Cross Lanes walkable?
Cross Lanes is more walkable than 52% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.9 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Cross Lanes without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Cross Lanes, from the people who make the trip.
More of Cross Lanes
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.