Photo: Idawriter · CC BY-SA 3.0How Peterstown works: jobs, income and commuting
121 jobs are based in Peterstown, and 130 of its residents work somewhere. Only 4% stay in Peterstown for work; outside it, Blacksburg is the main destination (5%, 23 miles). The trip to work takes 25 minutes on average (West Virginia 27, U.S. 26).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
How many people are in Peterstown by day
On a workday 125 residents head out to work, 5 work right here, and 116 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 (0.93 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.
Where Peterstown goes to work
Where Peterstown clocks in
5% of workers
5% 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.
In Peterstown, services account for most jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Peterstown, 2013 → 2023: 234 → 121. 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 Peterstown’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Peterstown, about 25 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Peterstown workers work from home, vs 9% across West Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 109 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 Peterstown, by distance
About 24% 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.
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 Peterstown: questions
What is the median household income in Peterstown?
$38,750 (±$20,191) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $59,608 across West Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Peterstown?
22.1%, against 16.7% across West Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Peterstown?
25 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 Peterstown work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Blacksburg (5%, 23 mi), Rich Creek (5%, 2 mi), Pearisburg (5%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Peterstown 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 Peterstown, from the people who make the trip.
More of Peterstown
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.