Photo: Carol M. Highsmith · Public domainHousehold incomes in Grafton trail those of 96% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 24.9% of residents; West Virginia has 16.7%. Grafton grades D for jobs and income and B for walkability. About one in seven work in Grafton itself; outside it, Bridgeport draws the most (11%, 12 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Grafton, in brief
Grafton trades workers with the towns around it
Grafton has about as many jobs (1,794) as working residents (1,679), but they are mostly different people: 1,425 residents leave for work each day while 1,540 people come in. Only 14% of the jobs in Grafton are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Grafton makes and builds things
36% of the jobs based in Grafton are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Grafton residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 19%. The jobs ↓
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.
The four measures behind Grafton’s grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Grafton is better than 8% of U.S. towns, #55 of 61 in West Virginia. Job access by car holds Grafton’s grade up (ahead of 41% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($40,402, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Grafton could be anywhere from D− to C.
Grafton on a workday afternoon
On a workday 1,425 residents head out to work, 254 work right here, and 1,540 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 (1.07 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.
36% of the jobs in Grafton make or build things
1,794 jobs are based in Grafton.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Grafton, 2013 → 2023: 1,678 → 1,794. 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 Grafton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where Grafton’s working residents head each day
Where Grafton clocks in
11% of workers
8% of workers
5% 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.
From Grafton, about 23 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Grafton workers work from home, vs 9% across West Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,517 commuters (the 13% 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 Grafton
About 15% 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.
In Grafton, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Grafton is more walkable than 57% of U.S. towns, #42 of 61 in West Virginia. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.8% 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 1,734 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). 21.4% of Grafton households have no vehicle (West Virginia 8.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Grafton’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 3,200 to 6,100, and where Grafton sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 707 | Pinch WV | 4,037 | $77K | 5.1% | 0.0% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,594 | Pleasant Valley WV | 3,457 | $68K | 9.0% | 2.2% | 6% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,974 | Blennerhassett WV | 3,282 | $88K | 9.3% | 4.7% | 1% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,603 | Carrollton MO | 3,499 | $50K | 23.5% | 5.2% | 39% | D |
| 3,604 | Rio Communities NM | 4,953 | $46K | 13.4% | 16.1% | 4% | D |
| 3,605 | Grafton WV | 4,529 | $40K | 24.9% | 7.4% | 15% | D |
| 3,606 | Mitchell IN | 4,019 | $49K | 20.7% | 7.4% | 17% | D |
| 3,607 | Manning SC | 3,829 | $29K | 17.7% | 7.2% | 21% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,862 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Grafton, 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 Grafton: questions
What is the median household income in Grafton?
$40,402 (±$4,363) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $59,608 across West Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Grafton?
24.9%, against 16.7% across West Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Grafton?
23 minutes each way on average, against 27 across West Virginia and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Grafton work?
15% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Bridgeport (11%, 12 mi), Morgantown (8%, 21 mi), Fairmont (5%, 12 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Grafton walkable?
Grafton is more walkable than 57% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.0 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Grafton without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 21% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Grafton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Grafton
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.