Photo: Tim Kiser (w:User:Malepheasant) · CC BY-SA 2.5Households in Harrisville have lower incomes than those in 90% of U.S. towns
About one in five stay in Harrisville for work; outside it, Parkersburg is the main destination (9%, 27 miles). Poverty touches 25.1% of residents (West Virginia 16.7%). For jobs and income Harrisville is better than 3% of U.S. towns (D−); for walkability it is more walkable than 38% of U.S. towns (C+).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Harrisville and work: the main findings
Harrisville’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Harrisville is Parkersburg, 27 miles away as the crow flies. 9% of working residents (59) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Harrisville than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Harrisville fell from 895 in 2014 to 660 in 2024, −26%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 634 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Jobs & income in Harrisville: the grade in detail
All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Harrisville’s grade.
Unemployment (2.1%) is left out: Harrisville’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, Harrisville could be anywhere from D− to D.
Near or far: the trip to work from Harrisville
About 20% 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 the 660 jobs in Harrisville are
660 jobs are based in Harrisville.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Harrisville, 2014 → 2024: 895 → 660. 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 Harrisville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 526 residents head out to work, 108 work right here, and 552 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 (1.04 per resident).
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 places Harrisville commutes to
Where Harrisville clocks in
9% 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.
Each way, about 26 minutes from Harrisville
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Harrisville workers work from home, vs 9% across West Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 623 commuters (the 6% 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.
Few in Harrisville walk, bike or ride to work
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.8% 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 660 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). 12.9% of Harrisville households have no vehicle (West Virginia 8.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Harrisville’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Harrisville compares with U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 973 | Barrackville WV | 1,196 | $79K | 4.1% | 3.7% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,134 | Coal Fork WV | 1,423 | $70K | 2.3% | 29.5% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,231 | Eleanor WV | 1,497 | $79K | 5.9% | 0.6% | 6% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 5,046 | Union City OH | 1,567 | $32K | 38.3% | 13.7% | 3% | D− |
| 5,047 | Linden TX | 1,809 | $44K | 32.1% | 5.8% | 16% | D− |
| 5,048 | Harrisville WV | 1,511 | $48K | 25.1% | 2.1% | 17% | D− |
| 5,049 | Ronceverte WV | 1,492 | $42K | 25.9% | 7.8% | 4% | D− |
| 5,050 | Grantsburg WI | 1,374 | $35K | 20.0% | 1.8% | 33% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,397 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 7% | 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 Harrisville, 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 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 Harrisville: questions
What is the median household income in Harrisville?
$47,768 (±$12,829) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $59,608 across West Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Harrisville?
25.1%, against 16.7% across West Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Harrisville?
26 minutes each way on average, against 27 across West Virginia and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Harrisville work?
17% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Parkersburg (9%, 27 mi), Pennsboro (8%, 7 mi), Charleston (3%, 67 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Harrisville walkable?
Harrisville is more walkable than 38% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Harrisville without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 13% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Harrisville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Harrisville
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. 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.