Photo: Tim Kiser (w:User:Malepheasant) · CC BY-SA 2.5Elkins’ household incomes are lower than in 93% of U.S. towns
Jobs & income D: better than 10% of U.S. towns on income, poverty, unemployment and job access · #52 of 61 in West Virginia.
Walkability A: more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns · #16 of 61 in West Virginia.
Working residents average 12 minutes each way (West Virginia 27, U.S. 26). About one in three work in Elkins; the top destination outside it is Buckhannon (2%, 21 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Elkins, in brief
Commutes from Elkins are quick
The average trip to work takes 12 minutes, against 27 across West Virginia. That’s about 115 hours a year less on the road than the typical West Virginia worker. Time on the road ↓
No single place dominates Elkins’ commute
The biggest draw, Buckhannon, gets only 2% of working residents, and 50% work outside the top ten towns entirely. Elkins residents fan out across the region. The commute map ↓
Elkins is where the jobs are
Elkins has 4,918 jobs, 1.8 for every working resident. 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.
What’s behind Elkins’ Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Elkins is better than 10% of U.S. towns, #52 of 61 in West Virginia. Job access by car holds Elkins’ grade up (ahead of 30% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($44,217, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Elkins could be anywhere from D− to C.
About 12 minutes each way, quicker than most of West Virginia
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 3.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Elkins workers work from home, vs 9% across West Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,079 commuters (the 7% 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.
Where Elkins’s workers come from
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Elkins clocks in
2% of workers
2% of workers
2% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
Elkins fills up on a workday
On a workday 1,770 residents head out to work, 998 work right here, and 3,920 people come in from elsewhere.
About 8,800 people are in Elkins on a workday afternoon, 32% more than live here.
1.8 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
What the 4,918 jobs in Elkins are
4,918 jobs are based in Elkins. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Elkins’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Elkins, 2013 → 2023: 5,889 → 4,918. 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.
Half of Elkins commutes less than 4 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
About 22% 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.
Elkins is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Elkins is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns, #16 of 61 in West Virginia. Both inputs place Elkins near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 3,326 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 Elkins households have no vehicle (West Virginia 8.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Elkins’ commuters take a bus or train.
How Elkins compares with U.S. towns of 4,600 to 8,900
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Elkins, the top three, the last and three more from West Virginia.
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Norwood NJ | 5,817 | $178K | 2.8% | 0.9% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,301 | Ranson corporation WV | 6,853 | $90K | 12.0% | 2.5% | 11% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,586 | Pea Ridge WV | 6,988 | $66K | 9.8% | 2.4% | 2% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,621 | Hurricane WV | 7,367 | $71K | 8.5% | 3.6% | 6% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 3,049 | Norwich NY | 6,538 | $53K | 14.2% | 11.8% | 27% | D |
| 3,050 | Georgetown SC | 8,869 | $57K | 21.9% | 9.4% | 25% | D |
| 3,051 | Elkins WV | 6,622 | $44K | 17.3% | 6.5% | 36% | D |
| 3,052 | Springfield Township IL | 5,485 | $40K | 31.3% | 15.1% | 4% | D |
| 3,053 | Fort Bragg CA | 6,946 | $56K | 18.2% | 6.3% | 45% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,283 | 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.
Elkins and the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Beverly (2%). Darker towns draw more of Elkins’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Elkins workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elkins | – | D | A | 12 min | $44,217 |
| Beverly | 2% | — | — | 20 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Beverly: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
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 Elkins: questions
What is the median household income in Elkins?
$44,217 (±$6,922) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $59,608 across West Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Elkins?
17.3%, against 16.7% across West Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Elkins?
12 minutes each way on average, against 27 across West Virginia and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Elkins work?
36% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Buckhannon (2%, 21 mi), Charleston (2%, 104 mi), Morgantown (2%, 50 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Elkins walkable?
Elkins is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 9.1 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Elkins without a car?
0% 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 Elkins, from the people who make the trip.
More of Elkins
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.