Households in Lavalette earn less than those in 82% of U.S. towns
Commuters spend 19 minutes getting to work on average, where West Virginia has 27 and the U.S. 26. The two grades for Lavalette are B− for jobs and income and C− for walkability. Only 1% stay in Lavalette for work; outside it, Huntington is the main destination (27%, 6 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Lavalette: the gist
Lavalette and Huntington trade workers both ways
Huntington is the top workplace for Lavalette residents (27%) and also where the most people who work in Lavalette come from (19% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Commutes from Lavalette are quick
The average trip to work takes 19 minutes, against 27 across West Virginia. That’s about 61 hours a year less on the road than the typical West Virginia worker. Time on the road ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Lavalette
59% of Lavalette residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 40% of the jobs based in Lavalette pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 99% leave town for their job. 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; with 335 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How Lavalette earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Lavalette is better than 46% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Lavalette’s grade up (hardly any, U.S. 12.5%); household income pulls it down ($54,554, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (0.0%) is left out: Lavalette’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, Lavalette could be anywhere from C+ to B+.
Where people from Lavalette work
Where Lavalette clocks in
27% of workers
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.
From Lavalette, about 19 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lavalette workers work from home, vs 9% across West Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 361 commuters (the 4% 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.
What work there is in Lavalette: 366 jobs
366 jobs are based in Lavalette.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lavalette, 2013 → 2023: 401 → 366. 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 Lavalette’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Lavalette by day and by night
On a workday 330 residents head out to work, 5 work right here, and 361 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 (1.09 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.
Miles to work from Lavalette
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.
Most trips from Lavalette start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Lavalette is more walkable than 24% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 378 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). 4.0% of Lavalette households have no vehicle (West Virginia 8.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Lavalette’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Lavalette is 1,166th among 3,133 U.S. towns of 700 to 1,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 374 | Belle WV | 1,088 | $77K | 3.3% | 10.6% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 481 | Barrackville WV | 1,196 | $79K | 4.1% | 3.7% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 630 | Shenandoah Junction WV | 1,141 | $95K | 8.2% | 0.0% | 0% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,164 | Eden VT | 1,291 | $84K | 6.1% | 0.0% | 4% | B− |
| 1,165 | Oriskany NY | 1,329 | $63K | 11.0% | 4.2% | 6% | B− |
| 1,166 | Lavalette WV | 1,005 | $55K | 0.0% | 0.0% | 1% | B− |
| 1,167 | Loma Linda MO | 1,009 | $92K | 13.4% | 4.4% | 0% | B− |
| 1,168 | Vernon Township MI | 1,325 | $81K | 8.6% | 6.7% | 3% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,133 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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 Lavalette, 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 Lavalette: questions
What is the median household income in Lavalette?
$54,554 (±$33,426) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $59,608 across West Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lavalette?
0.0%, against 16.7% across West Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lavalette?
19 minutes each way on average, against 27 across West Virginia and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lavalette work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Huntington (27%, 6 mi), Wayne (9%, 6 mi), Barboursville (3%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lavalette walkable?
Lavalette is more walkable than 24% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 7.1 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lavalette without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lavalette, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lavalette
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.