Mud River Covered Bridge · Photo: William Edmund Barrett · Public domainMilton has lower household incomes than 92% of U.S. towns
18% of workers have no commute at all; West Virginia has 9%. 23.3% of residents live below the poverty line, against 16.7% across West Virginia. For jobs and income Milton is better than 40% of U.S. towns (C+); for walkability it is more walkable than 45% of U.S. towns (C+).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Milton, in brief
Milton trades workers with the towns around it
Milton has about as many jobs (1,319) as working residents (1,162), but they are mostly different people: 1,078 residents leave for work each day while 1,235 people come in. Only 6% of the jobs in Milton are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Home offices are common in Milton
18% of Milton workers work from home, against 9% across West Virginia. Time on the road ↓
Commutes from Milton are quick
The average trip to work takes 21 minutes, against 27 across West Virginia. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical West Virginia worker. Time on the road ↓
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.
How Milton earns its Jobs & income grade
Unemployment holds Milton’s grade up (0.8%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($46,429, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Milton could be anywhere from C to B.
Milton by day and by night
On a workday 1,078 residents head out to work, 84 work right here, and 1,235 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 (1.14 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.
Commuting from Milton: about 21 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Milton workers work from home, vs 9% across West Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 907 commuters (the 18% 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.
19% of working residents work in Huntington
Where Milton clocks in
19% of workers
10% 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.
The 1,319 jobs based in Milton
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Milton, 2013 → 2023: 1,264 → 1,319. 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 Milton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute from Milton, by distance
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 Milton, most people drive to work
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 1,104 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). 0.8% of Milton households have no vehicle (West Virginia 8.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Milton’s commuters take a bus or train.
Milton places 2,746th of 4,703 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 2,000 to 3,800
| # | 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% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 982 | Williamstown WV | 2,922 | $89K | 5.2% | 1.9% | 6% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,394 | Bethlehem WV | 2,520 | $83K | 8.8% | 3.0% | 2% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,402 | Culloden WV | 3,040 | $73K | 11.8% | 0.0% | 3% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,744 | Monroe UT | 2,738 | $66K | 6.7% | 3.5% | 10% | C+ |
| 2,745 | Rainier WA | 2,495 | $106K | 14.6% | 5.0% | 4% | C+ |
| 2,746 | Milton WV | 2,792 | $46K | 23.3% | 0.8% | 7% | C+ |
| 2,747 | Burgess Township IL | 2,140 | $65K | 11.6% | 3.1% | 2% | C+ |
| 2,748 | Orleans Township IN | 3,571 | $67K | 12.0% | 2.7% | 16% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,703 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 12% | 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 Milton, the top three, the last and three more from West Virginia.
Next door to Milton
The biggest share goes to Culloden (2%).
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Milton’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.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Milton: questions
What is the median household income in Milton?
$46,429 (±$20,473) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $59,608 across West Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Milton?
23.3%, against 16.7% across West Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Milton?
21 minutes each way on average, against 27 across West Virginia and 26 nationally. 18% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Milton work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Huntington (19%, 16 mi), Charleston (10%, 28 mi), Barboursville (5%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Milton walkable?
Milton is more walkable than 45% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 10.3 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Milton without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Milton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Milton
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.