Photo: Youngamerican at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Richwood has some of the lowest household incomes of any U.S. town
Below the poverty line: 25.9% of residents (West Virginia 16.7%). Household incomes here are among the lowest in the country. For jobs and income Richwood is near the bottom of U.S. towns (D−); for walkability it is more walkable than 70% of U.S. towns (B+).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Richwood and work: the main findings
Fewer jobs are based in Richwood than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Richwood fell from 574 in 2014 to 260 in 2024, −55%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
A big share show a job far from home
40% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Richwood workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 37 minutes each way, against 27 across West Virginia. Over a year that’s about 284 hours of commuting, 77 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 541 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Inside Richwood’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Richwood is near the bottom of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Richwood’s grade.
Unemployment (13.5%) is left out: Richwood’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Richwood stays D−.
Jobs in Richwood: what the 260 are
260 jobs are based in Richwood.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Richwood, 2014 → 2024: 574 → 260. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Richwood’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Miles to work from Richwood
About 40% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Commuting from Richwood: about 37 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Richwood workers work from home, vs 9% across West Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 691 commuters (the 5% 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 workday shuffle in and out of Richwood
On a workday 495 residents head out to work, 46 work right here, and 214 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,300 people are in Richwood on a workday afternoon, 18% fewer than live here.
0.48 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 2024, primary jobs.
13% of working residents work in Summersville
Where Richwood clocks in
13% 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.
Richwood is a driving town
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 14.9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.5% across West Virginia, on an EPA index of 5.9.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 725 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). 12.4% of Richwood households have no vehicle (West Virginia 8.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 11% of Richwood’s commuters take a bus or train.
Richwood next to U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,200
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,153 | Barrackville WV | 1,196 | $79K | 4.1% | 3.7% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,343 | Coal Fork WV | 1,423 | $70K | 2.3% | 29.5% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,457 | Eleanor WV | 1,497 | $79K | 5.9% | 0.6% | 6% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 6,120 | Eureka MT | 1,562 | $39K | 31.3% | 4.2% | 28% | D− |
| 6,121 | Bayard NM | 2,048 | $34K | 34.6% | 12.8% | 13% | D− |
| 6,122 | Richwood WV | 1,598 | $31K | 25.9% | 13.5% | 9% | D− |
| 6,123 | Pinon AZ | 1,159 | $46K | 43.2% | 29.8% | 33% | D− |
| 6,124 | Garberville CA | 1,415 | $40K | 42.6% | 2.1% | 24% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 6,161 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 7% | 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 Richwood, 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 2024, 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 Richwood: questions
What is the median household income in Richwood?
$30,833 (±$12,592) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $59,608 across West Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Richwood?
25.9%, against 16.7% across West Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Richwood?
37 minutes each way on average, against 27 across West Virginia and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Richwood work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Summersville (13%, 17 mi), Charleston (5%, 60 mi), Nettie (5%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Richwood walkable?
Richwood is more walkable than 70% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 5.9 out of 20, and 15% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Richwood without a car?
11% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Richwood, from the people who make the trip.
More of Richwood
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.