Photo: Generic1139 · CC BY-SA 3.0Earning a living in Kingwood
About one in seven stay in Kingwood for work; outside it, Morgantown is the main destination (12%, 18 miles). Jobs and income earn Kingwood C; getting around on foot earns it B+. 3% of workers work from home, against 9% across West Virginia.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Kingwood and work: the main findings
Kingwood is where the jobs are
Kingwood has 1,694 jobs, 1.6 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Kingwood than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Kingwood fell from 2,369 in 2014 to 1,694 in 2024, −28%. 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 ↓
Few Kingwood workers work from home
Only 3% of workers work from home, against 9% across West Virginia. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
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.
Jobs & income in Kingwood: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Kingwood is better than 31% of U.S. towns, #28 of 61 in West Virginia. Unemployment holds Kingwood’s grade up (4.4%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down (16.2%, U.S. 12.5%).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Kingwood could be anywhere from D to A−.
Who works in Kingwood, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 935 residents head out to work, 154 work right here, and 1,540 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,500 people are in Kingwood on a workday afternoon, 21% more than live here.
1.6 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 2024, primary jobs.
Jobs in Kingwood: what the 1,694 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Kingwood, 2014 → 2024: 2,369 → 1,694. 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 Kingwood’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 28 minutes each way for Kingwood’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Kingwood workers work from home, vs 9% across West Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,272 commuters (the 3% 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.
The daily trip into Kingwood
Where Kingwood clocks in
12% of workers
3% 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.
How far it is to work from Kingwood
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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
The commute in Kingwood is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Kingwood is more walkable than 73% of U.S. towns, #32 of 61 in West Virginia. Both inputs place Kingwood 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 1,308 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). 5.9% of Kingwood households have no vehicle (West Virginia 8.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Kingwood’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Kingwood ranks: 3,138th of 4,618 U.S. towns of 2,100 to 4,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 989 | Williamstown WV | 2,922 | $89K | 5.2% | 1.9% | 7% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,389 | Bethlehem WV | 2,520 | $83K | 8.8% | 3.0% | 3% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,397 | Culloden WV | 3,040 | $73K | 11.8% | 0.0% | 2% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,136 | Barton VT | 2,732 | $66K | 10.2% | 3.9% | 24% | C |
| 3,137 | Benton LA | 2,118 | $58K | 23.9% | 4.1% | 15% | C |
| 3,138 | Kingwood WV | 2,937 | $71K | 16.2% | 4.4% | 14% | C |
| 3,139 | Kings Beach CA | 2,736 | $68K | 6.8% | 5.1% | 9% | C |
| 3,140 | Jewett City CT | 3,456 | $56K | 13.9% | 5.3% | 2% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 4,618 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 0% | 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 Kingwood, 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 Kingwood: questions
What is the median household income in Kingwood?
$71,154 (±$22,462) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $59,608 across West Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Kingwood?
16.2%, against 16.7% across West Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Kingwood?
28 minutes each way on average, against 27 across West Virginia and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Kingwood work?
14% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Morgantown (12%, 18 mi), Arthurdale (3%, 7 mi), Fairmont (3%, 25 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Kingwood walkable?
Kingwood is more walkable than 73% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.1 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Kingwood without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Kingwood, from the people who make the trip.
More of Kingwood
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.