Photo: Valerius Tygart · CC BY-SA 3.0Philippi’s household incomes are lower than in 92% of U.S. towns
Philippi grades D for jobs and income and A− for walkability. 29.5% of residents live below the poverty line; West Virginia has 16.7%. About one in five work in Philippi; the top destination outside it is Bridgeport (7%, 15 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Philippi apart on work
Philippi’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Philippi is better than 5% of U.S. towns, #56 of 61 in West Virginia. Job access by car holds Philippi’s grade up (ahead of 31% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Philippi could be anywhere from D− to C.
The daily commute in and out of Philippi
On a workday 778 residents head out to work, 207 work right here, and 1,816 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,900 people are in Philippi on a workday afternoon, 36% more than live here.
2.1 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.
Commuting in to Philippi: where workers come from
Where Philippi clocks in
7% 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.
Philippi works in goods: 32% of its jobs
2,023 jobs are based in Philippi.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Philippi, 2013 → 2023: 1,668 → 2,023. 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 Philippi’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Time on the road from Philippi: about 28 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Philippi workers work from home, vs 9% across West Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 949 commuters (the 6% 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.
How far Philippi goes to work
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.
In Philippi, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Philippi is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns, #22 of 61 in West Virginia. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 16.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.5% across West Virginia, on an EPA index of 6.9.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,014 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). 8.6% of Philippi households have no vehicle (West Virginia 8.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Philippi’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Philippi sits among U.S. towns of 2,000 to 3,800
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 982 | Williamstown WV | 2,922 | $89K | 5.2% | 1.9% | 6% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,394 | Bethlehem WV | 2,520 | $83K | 8.8% | 3.0% | 2% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,402 | Culloden WV | 3,040 | $73K | 11.8% | 0.0% | 3% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,412 | New Boston OH | 2,206 | $23K | 31.0% | 9.7% | 6% | D |
| 4,413 | Tishomingo OK | 3,123 | $40K | 36.7% | 6.2% | 23% | D |
| 4,414 | Philippi WV | 2,846 | $46K | 29.5% | 8.1% | 21% | D |
| 4,415 | Croswell MI | 2,263 | $55K | 17.1% | 11.6% | 16% | D |
| 4,416 | La Grange NC | 2,947 | $48K | 32.0% | 14.7% | 3% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,703 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 12% | 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 Philippi, 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 Philippi: questions
What is the median household income in Philippi?
$45,879 (±$9,381) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $59,608 across West Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Philippi?
29.5%, against 16.7% across West Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Philippi?
28 minutes each way on average, against 27 across West Virginia and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Philippi work?
21% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Bridgeport (7%, 15 mi), Clarksburg (4%, 19 mi), Belington (3%, 11 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Philippi walkable?
Philippi is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 6.9 out of 20, and 16% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Philippi without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Philippi, from the people who make the trip.
More of Philippi
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.