Mullens Historic District · Photo: Tim Kiser (w:User:Malepheasant) · CC BY-SA 3.0 usHouseholds in Mullens have lower incomes than those in 71% of U.S. towns
1% of workers work from home; West Virginia has 9%. The poverty rate is 13.8%, against 16.7% across West Virginia. For jobs and income Mullens is better than 15% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 20% of U.S. towns (C−).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Mullens: the gist
Fewer jobs are based in Mullens than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Mullens fell from 660 in 2013 to 451 in 2023, −32%. 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 ↓
Many jobs in Mullens pay little
26% of the jobs based in Mullens pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. 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 459 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where Mullens’ Jobs & income grade comes from
The poverty rate holds Mullens’ grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 12% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (0.9%) is left out: Mullens’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Mullens could be anywhere from D− to B−.
The 451 jobs based in Mullens
451 jobs are based in Mullens.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Mullens, 2013 → 2023: 660 → 451. 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 Mullens’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Mullens on a workday afternoon
On a workday 416 residents head out to work, 43 work right here, and 408 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 (0.98 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.
The places Mullens commutes to
Where Mullens clocks in
15% 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.
A commute of about 24 minutes in Mullens
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Mullens workers work from home, vs 9% across West Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 959 commuters (the 1% 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.
Half of Mullens commutes less than 18 miles
About 22% 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 of Mullens commutes by car
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 973 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). 3.2% of Mullens households have no vehicle (West Virginia 8.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Mullens’ commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 5,400 U.S. towns of 900 to 1,800, Mullens comes 4,071st on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 723 | Belle WV | 1,088 | $77K | 3.3% | 10.6% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 922 | Barrackville WV | 1,196 | $79K | 4.1% | 3.7% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,086 | Coal Fork WV | 1,423 | $70K | 2.3% | 29.5% | <1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,069 | Orange Grove TX | 1,178 | $45K | 13.8% | 1.7% | 4% | D |
| 4,070 | Clarksville VA | 1,303 | $64K | 15.4% | 6.6% | 8% | D |
| 4,071 | Mullens WV | 1,336 | $62K | 13.8% | 0.9% | 9% | D |
| 4,072 | Stonington ME | 1,058 | $60K | 10.8% | 15.9% | 26% | D |
| 4,073 | Union Township OH | 1,434 | $50K | 17.6% | 13.8% | 1% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,400 | 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 Mullens, 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 Mullens: questions
What is the median household income in Mullens?
$61,563 (±$34,353) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $59,608 across West Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Mullens?
13.8%, against 16.7% across West Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Mullens?
24 minutes each way on average, against 27 across West Virginia and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Mullens work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Beckley (15%, 18 mi), Pineville (13%, 8 mi), Charleston (3%, 55 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Mullens walkable?
Mullens is more walkable than 20% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 5.6 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Mullens without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Mullens, from the people who make the trip.
More of Mullens
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.