Photo: Famartin · CC BY-SA 4.0Most of Elk Garden commutes out: there are 0.0 jobs for every working resident
Employers in Elk Garden report 1 jobs, and 82 of its residents work somewhere. Hardly any work in Elk Garden; the top destination outside it is Oakland (5%, 13 miles). Working residents average 53 minutes each way; West Virginia averages 27, the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
How a workday changes Elk Garden
On a workday 82 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 1 people come in from elsewhere.
About 130 people are in Elk Garden on a workday afternoon, 39% 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 2024, primary jobs.
The towns that employ Elk Garden’s residents
Where Elk Garden clocks in
5% of workers
5% of workers
4% 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.
In Elk Garden, services account for most jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Elk Garden, 2014 → 2024: 9 → 1. 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 Elk Garden’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Elk Garden takes about 53 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 16.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Elk Garden workers work from home, vs 9% across West Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 74 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.
How far it is to work from Elk Garden
About 41% 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.
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 Elk Garden: questions
What is the median household income in Elk Garden?
$61,250 (±$48,153) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $59,608 across West Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Elk Garden?
3.3%, against 16.7% across West Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Elk Garden?
53 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 Elk Garden work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Oakland (5%, 13 mi), Keyser (5%, 10 mi), Moorefield (4%, 24 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Can you get around Elk Garden without a car?
23% 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 Elk Garden, from the people who make the trip.
More of Elk Garden
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.