Photo: Nyttend · Public domainKeystone draws 80 commuters a day, with 2.9 jobs for every working resident
Hardly any stay in Keystone for work; outside it, Welch is the main destination (25%, 8 miles). Employers in Keystone report 80 jobs, and 28 of its residents work somewhere. Home is the office for 0% of workers, next to 9% for West Virginia as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
How many people are in Keystone by day
On a workday 28 residents head out to work and none work right here.
About 200 people are in Keystone on a workday afternoon, 34% more than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Where the people who work in Keystone live
Where Keystone clocks in
25% of workers
7% of workers
7% 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.
Keystone is a services town
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Keystone, 2013 → 2023: 214 → 80. 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 Keystone’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Working from home in Keystone
of Keystone workers work from home, vs 9% across West Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 18 commuters (the 0% 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 Keystone
About 48% 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.
How Keystone compares with the towns next door
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Keystone workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keystone | – | — | — | — | $21,618 |
| Northfork | under 4% | — | — | 20 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Northfork: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Keystone’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.
- Two counts of out-of-state work. The Census survey asks workers where they work: 0% of Keystone workers work outside West Virginia. The job records count 15% at employers in other states. The records use the address the employer reports and skip the self-employed, so the two can differ.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Keystone: questions
What is the median household income in Keystone?
$21,618 (±$17,487) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $59,608 across West Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Keystone?
56.4%, against 16.7% across West Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
Where do people who live in Keystone work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Welch (25%, 8 mi), Bluefield (7%, 17 mi), Charleston (7%, 65 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Keystone without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Keystone, from the people who make the trip.
More of Keystone
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.