There are 3.2 jobs in Prosperity for every working resident, and 1,351 people commute in
Home is the office for <1% of workers, where West Virginia as a whole has 9%. There are 1,376 jobs in Prosperity, and 433 of its residents work somewhere. Jobs and income earn Prosperity B−; getting around on foot earns it C.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Prosperity: the figures worth knowing
Prosperity has far more jobs than workers
Prosperity has 1,376 jobs, 3.2 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 2,300 people are in town, 68% more than the 1,400 who live here. Day and night ↓
Prosperity has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Prosperity went from 698 in 2013 to 1,376 in 2023, +97%. The jobs ↓
One in three of Prosperity works in Beckley
137 working residents, 32%, have their main job in Beckley, 4.9 miles away. That’s 5 times as many as work in Prosperity itself. The commute map ↓
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 433 working residents, small shifts move the shares; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
The figures behind Prosperity’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Prosperity is better than 50% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Prosperity’s grade up ($85,094, U.S. $80,734); the poverty rate pulls it down (11.4%, U.S. 12.5%).
Unemployment (0.0%) is left out: Prosperity’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, Prosperity could be anywhere from D to A−.
How a workday changes Prosperity
On a workday 408 residents head out to work and 25 work right here.
About 2,300 people are in Prosperity on a workday afternoon, 68% more than live here.
3.2 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.
The kinds of work in Prosperity
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Prosperity, 2013 → 2023: 698 → 1,376. 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 Prosperity’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where Prosperity’s workers come from
Where Prosperity clocks in
32% of workers
6% 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 19 minutes in Prosperity
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Prosperity workers work from home, vs 9% across West Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 767 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.
Prosperity’s commute, mile by mile
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.
The commute in Prosperity is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Prosperity is more walkable than 27% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.5% across West Virginia.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 769 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). 0.0% of Prosperity households have no vehicle (West Virginia 8.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Prosperity’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Prosperity is 2,075th among 5,877 U.S. towns of 1,000 to 1,900
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 799 | Belle WV | 1,088 | $77K | 3.3% | 10.6% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,016 | Barrackville WV | 1,196 | $79K | 4.1% | 3.7% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,197 | Coal Fork WV | 1,423 | $70K | 2.3% | 29.5% | <1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,073 | Plymouth Township OH | 1,865 | $70K | 13.3% | 2.0% | <1% | B− |
| 2,074 | Princeton WI | 1,552 | $84K | 7.1% | 1.9% | 3% | B− |
| 2,075 | Prosperity WV | 1,389 | $85K | 11.4% | 0.0% | 6% | B− |
| 2,076 | Port Dickinson NY | 1,654 | $69K | 11.7% | 4.2% | 6% | B− |
| 2,077 | Jackson Township IN | 1,190 | $69K | 3.4% | 0.0% | 1% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,877 | 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 Prosperity, 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 Prosperity: questions
What is the median household income in Prosperity?
$85,094 (±$79,132) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $59,608 across West Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Prosperity?
11.4%, against 16.7% across West Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Prosperity?
19 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 Prosperity work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Beckley (32%, 5 mi), Charleston (6%, 42 mi), Oak Hill (3%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Prosperity walkable?
Prosperity is more walkable than 27% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 7.4 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Prosperity without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Prosperity, from the people who make the trip.
More of Prosperity
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.