Photo: Schaefer, Harry, Photographer (NARA record: 8464469) · Public domainRand has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.4 for each
Only 1% work in Rand; the top destination outside it is Charleston (41%, 6 miles). Employers in Rand report 251 jobs, against 598 working residents. The two grades for Rand are B− for jobs and income and B for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Rand at work: what stands out
41% of Rand works in Charleston
243 working residents, 41%, have their main job in Charleston, 5.9 miles away. That’s 41 times as many as work in Rand itself. The commute map ↓
Commutes from Rand are quick
The average trip to work takes 22 minutes, against 27 across West Virginia. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical West Virginia worker. Time on the road ↓
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 598 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Why Rand gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty and job access, Rand is better than 50% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Rand’s grade up (ahead of 66% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($61,047, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on the poverty rate.
Unemployment (5.4%) is left out: Rand’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, Rand could be anywhere from C− to A.
Where people from Rand work
Where Rand clocks in
41% of workers
9% of workers
2% 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.
How long Rand spends getting to work: about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Rand workers work from home, vs 9% across West Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 499 commuters (the 11% 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.
Rand by day and by night
On a workday 590 residents head out to work, 8 work right here, and 243 people come in from elsewhere.
About 720 people are in Rand on a workday afternoon, 33% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
What Rand’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Rand, 2013 → 2023: 177 → 251. 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 Rand’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many miles Rand commutes
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 Rand, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Rand is more walkable than 65% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Rand 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 560 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). 13.1% of Rand households have no vehicle (West Virginia 8.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of Rand’s commuters take a bus or train.
Rand places 1,010th of 3,133 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 700 to 1,400
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 374 | Belle WV | 1,088 | $77K | 3.3% | 10.6% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 481 | Barrackville WV | 1,196 | $79K | 4.1% | 3.7% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 630 | Shenandoah Junction WV | 1,141 | $95K | 8.2% | 0.0% | 0% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,008 | Fairfield Township OH | 1,096 | $74K | 2.7% | 1.8% | 0% | B− |
| 1,009 | China Spring TX | 1,126 | $71K | 9.0% | 0.0% | 1% | B− |
| 1,010 | Rand WV | 1,064 | $61K | 8.6% | 5.4% | 1% | B− |
| 1,011 | Persifer Township IL | 1,051 | $74K | 3.4% | 1.7% | 1% | B− |
| 1,012 | Lincoln Township KS | 1,268 | $75K | 4.0% | 9.6% | 4% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,133 | 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 Rand, 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 Rand: questions
What is the median household income in Rand?
$61,047 (±$20,570) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $59,608 across West Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Rand?
8.6%, against 16.7% across West Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Rand?
22 minutes each way on average, against 27 across West Virginia and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Rand work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Charleston (41%, 6 mi), South Charleston (9%, 9 mi), Huntington (2%, 48 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Rand walkable?
Rand is more walkable than 65% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.0 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Rand without a car?
3% 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 Rand, from the people who make the trip.
More of Rand
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.