Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Montgomery ranks among the lowest-earning U.S. towns by household income
28.3% of residents live below the poverty line; West Virginia has 16.7%. Measured by household income, Montgomery is among the lowest-earning towns in the country. Jobs and income earn Montgomery D−; getting around on foot earns it A.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Montgomery
Montgomery is where the jobs are
Montgomery has 690 jobs, 1.8 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Montgomery than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Montgomery fell from 1,473 in 2013 to 690 in 2023, −53%. 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 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 387 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Montgomery
On income, poverty and job access, Montgomery is better than 4% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Montgomery’s grade up (ahead of 30% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($27,679, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (10.2%) is left out: Montgomery’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, Montgomery could be anywhere from D− to D.
The daily flow of workers through Montgomery
On a workday 345 residents head out to work, 42 work right here, and 648 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,500 people are in Montgomery on a workday afternoon, 26% more than live here.
1.8 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 2023, primary jobs.
Montgomery is a services town
690 jobs are based in Montgomery.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Montgomery, 2013 → 2023: 1,473 → 690. 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 Montgomery’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where Montgomery’s workforce comes from
Where Montgomery clocks in
22% of workers
6% of workers
4% 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 24 minutes from Montgomery
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Montgomery workers work from home, vs 9% across West Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 431 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Montgomery
About 23% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Montgomery
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Montgomery is more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 448 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). 38.4% of Montgomery households have no vehicle (West Virginia 8.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 4% of Montgomery’s commuters take a bus or train.
Montgomery next to U.S. towns of 800 to 1,600
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 555 | Belle WV | 1,088 | $77K | 3.3% | 10.6% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 709 | Barrackville WV | 1,196 | $79K | 4.1% | 3.7% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 837 | Coal Fork WV | 1,423 | $70K | 2.3% | 29.5% | <1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,955 | Eastport ME | 1,285 | $46K | 15.2% | 2.8% | 44% | D− |
| 3,956 | Mahnomen MN | 1,181 | $45K | 18.6% | 9.8% | 44% | D− |
| 3,957 | Montgomery WV | 1,186 | $28K | 28.3% | 10.2% | 11% | D− |
| 3,958 | Erie Township KS | 1,245 | $46K | 17.9% | 0.0% | 8% | D− |
| 3,959 | Green Township MI | 1,132 | $55K | 19.6% | 4.9% | 2% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,312 | 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 Montgomery, the top three, the last and three more from West Virginia.
Around Montgomery: the bordering towns
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Montgomery workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Montgomery | – | D− | A | 24 min | $27,679 |
| Smithers | under 2% | — | — | 17 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Smithers: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Montgomery’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 Montgomery: questions
What is the median household income in Montgomery?
$27,679 (±$12,833) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $59,608 across West Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Montgomery?
28.3%, against 16.7% across West Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Montgomery?
24 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 Montgomery work?
11% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Charleston (22%, 21 mi), South Charleston (6%, 24 mi), Beckley (4%, 29 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Montgomery walkable?
Montgomery is more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.7 out of 20, and 17% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Montgomery without a car?
4% of commuters take transit and 38% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Montgomery, from the people who make the trip.
More of Montgomery
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.