Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Oak Hill’s household incomes are lower than in 85% of U.S. towns
Oak Hill grades C− for jobs and income and A− for walkability. 21.7% of residents are in poverty, where West Virginia as a whole has 16.7%. About one in ten work in Oak Hill itself; outside it, Beckley draws the most (16%, 14 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Oak Hill, in brief
What’s behind Oak Hill’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Oak Hill is better than 17% of U.S. towns, #47 of 61 in West Virginia. Unemployment holds Oak Hill’s grade up (4.6%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Oak Hill could be anywhere from D to C+.
What work there is in Oak Hill: 2,167 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Oak Hill, 2013 → 2023: 3,180 → 2,167. 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 Oak Hill’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who works in Oak Hill, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 2,953 residents head out to work, 388 work right here, and 1,779 people come in from elsewhere.
About 6,500 people are in Oak Hill on a workday afternoon, 15% fewer than live here.
0.65 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
Where the trip to work from Oak Hill ends
Where Oak Hill clocks in
16% of workers
7% 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.
About 29 minutes to work from Oak Hill
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Oak Hill workers work from home, vs 9% across West Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,238 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.
The commute from Oak Hill, by distance
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.
In Oak Hill, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Oak Hill is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns, #24 of 61 in West Virginia. Both inputs place Oak Hill near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 3,389 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). 12.9% of Oak Hill households have no vehicle (West Virginia 8.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Oak Hill’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Oak Hill ranks: 2,724th of 3,111 U.S. towns of 5,300 to 10,300
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 623 | Bridgeport WV | 9,427 | $100K | 3.9% | 2.3% | 28% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,285 | Ranson corporation WV | 6,853 | $90K | 12.0% | 2.5% | 11% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,359 | Cross Lanes WV | 9,671 | $64K | 5.1% | 3.5% | 4% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 2,722 | Princeton KY | 6,168 | $47K | 15.8% | 4.5% | 40% | C− |
| 2,723 | Silsbee TX | 6,613 | $60K | 20.0% | 7.3% | 17% | C− |
| 2,724 | Oak Hill WV | 7,629 | $52K | 21.7% | 4.6% | 12% | C− |
| 2,725 | Payette ID | 8,813 | $55K | 13.9% | 5.2% | 14% | C− |
| 2,726 | Rushville Township IN | 7,672 | $58K | 15.4% | 6.4% | 25% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,111 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Oak Hill, the top three, the last and three more from West Virginia.
Oak Hill and the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Fayetteville (9%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Oak Hill workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oak Hill | – | C− | A− | 29 min | $52,466 |
| Fayetteville | 9% | B− | B+ | 31 min | $67,623 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Oak Hill’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 Oak Hill: questions
What is the median household income in Oak Hill?
$52,466 (±$5,782) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $59,608 across West Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Oak Hill?
21.7%, against 16.7% across West Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Oak Hill?
29 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 Oak Hill work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Beckley (16%, 14 mi), Fayetteville (9%, 7 mi), Charleston (7%, 37 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Oak Hill walkable?
Oak Hill is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.4 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Oak Hill without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 13% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Oak Hill, from the people who make the trip.
More of Oak Hill
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.