Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Morgantown is a college town: 42% of residents are students
A typical one-way commute lasts 16 minutes (West Virginia 27, U.S. 26). For jobs and income Morgantown is better than 53% of U.S. towns (B−); for walkability it is more walkable than 93% of U.S. towns (A). About two in five work in Morgantown itself; outside it, Westover draws the most (4%, 2 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Morgantown stands out on work
Morgantown has far more jobs than workers
Morgantown has 31,867 jobs, 3.5 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 53,000 people are in town, 75% more than the 30,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Morgantown are quick
The average trip to work takes 16 minutes, against 27 across West Virginia. That’s about 84 hours a year less on the road than the typical West Virginia worker. Time on the road ↓
Morgantown draws workers from far and wide
The 31,867 jobs in Morgantown are filled from a wide area. Morgantown’s own residents hold 12% and the ten next-biggest home towns 17%; the other 71% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Nearly all the work in Morgantown is services
92% of the jobs based here are in services, such as health care, schools and offices. Only 3% are in factories, building or farms. The jobs ↓
Morgantown has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Morgantown went from 21,563 in 2013 to 31,867 in 2023, +48%. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
The four measures behind Morgantown’s grade
Job access by car holds Morgantown’s grade up (ahead of 68% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (12.4%, U.S. 11.9%).
Where students are 15% or more of the people the Census checks for poverty (30% here), the grade uses the rate without them: 12.4%, against 30.4% for all residents. Unemployment (6.2%) is left out here: students looking for part-time work count as unemployed. Income is ranked as median family income ($91,684), since student households pull the household median down ($44,727).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for family income and poverty, Morgantown could be anywhere from C+ to A−.
Who leaves Morgantown for work, and who comes in
On a workday 5,551 residents head out to work, 3,689 work right here, and 28,178 people come in from elsewhere.
About 53,000 people are in Morgantown on a workday afternoon, 75% more than live here.
3.4 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.
From Morgantown, about 16 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Morgantown workers work from home, vs 9% across West Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 12,781 commuters (the 15% 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 towns that send workers to Morgantown
Where Morgantown clocks in
4% of workers
2% of workers
2% 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.
Services make up most of the work in Morgantown
31,867 jobs are based in Morgantown.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Morgantown, 2013 → 2023: 21,563 → 31,867. 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 Morgantown’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far it is to work from Morgantown
About 18% 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.
Morgantown is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 16.9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.5% across West Virginia, on an EPA index of 9.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 14,971 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). 12.1% of Morgantown households have no vehicle (West Virginia 8.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Morgantown’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 21,000 to 41,000, Morgantown ranks 920th of 1,415 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 918 | Wenatchee WA | 35,547 | $73K | 10.4% | 3.2% | 44% | B− |
| 919 | Franklin Township OH | 33,063 | $75K | 13.7% | 4.6% | 11% | B− |
| 920 | Morgantown WV | 30,293 | $45K | 30.4% | 6.2% | 40% | B− |
| 921 | Fountain CO | 29,450 | $86K | 10.3% | 5.4% | 9% | B− |
| 922 | Burbank IL | 28,578 | $80K | 12.9% | 7.1% | 5% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,347 | Wheeling WV | 25,680 | $49K | 20.5% | 6.5% | 40% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,381 | Parkersburg WV | 28,593 | $49K | 22.5% | 7.9% | 36% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 1,415 | Barstow CA | 24,804 | $53K | 23.1% | 11.9% | 17% | 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 Morgantown, the top three, the last and three more from West Virginia.
The towns around Morgantown
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Morgantown workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Morgantown | – | B− | A | 16 min | $44,727 |
| Westover | 4% | B− | A− | 18 min | $60,769 |
| Star City | 1% | B− | A | 20 min | $59,123 |
| Brookhaven | under 1% | B− | B− | 20 min | $88,438 |
| Granville | 2% | C | B+ | 16 min | $31,901 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Westover. Darker towns draw more of Morgantown’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.
- Students. 42% of residents are college students; the poverty input leaves off-campus students out (above).
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Morgantown: questions
What is the median household income in Morgantown?
$44,727 (±$4,445) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $59,608 across West Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Morgantown?
30.4% of residents live below the poverty line; leaving out college students, 12.4%. West Virginia: 16.7%.
How long is the commute from Morgantown?
16 minutes each way on average, against 27 across West Virginia and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Morgantown work?
40% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Westover (4%, 2 mi), Granville (2%, 3 mi), Charleston (2%, 127 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Morgantown walkable?
Morgantown is more walkable than 93% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 9.0 out of 20, and 17% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Morgantown without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Morgantown, from the people who make the trip.
More of Morgantown
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.