Photo: Tim Kiser (w:User:Malepheasant) · CC BY-SA 2.5Household incomes in Ripley trail those of 95% of U.S. towns
About one in five work in Ripley itself; outside it, Charleston draws the most (14%, 33 miles). 27.1% of residents live below the poverty line (West Virginia 16.7%). For jobs and income Ripley is better than 21% of U.S. towns (C−); for walkability it is more walkable than 85% of U.S. towns (A).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Ripley, in brief
Ripley is where the jobs are
Ripley has 2,963 jobs, 2.4 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 4,700 people are in town, 56% more than the 3,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
Ripley’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Ripley is Charleston, 33 miles away as the crow flies. 14% of working residents (179) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
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.
The figures behind Ripley’s Jobs & income grade
Unemployment holds Ripley’s grade up (2.2%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($41,518, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Ripley could be anywhere from D− to C+.
How many people are in Ripley by day
On a workday 979 residents head out to work, 277 work right here, and 2,686 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,700 people are in Ripley on a workday afternoon, 56% more than live here.
2.4 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.
How far Ripley’s workers travel
About 16% 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.
Where Ripley’s workers come from
Where Ripley clocks in
14% of workers
4% 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.
Inside Ripley’s 2,963 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ripley, 2013 → 2023: 3,101 → 2,963. 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 Ripley’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 23 minutes from Ripley
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ripley workers work from home, vs 9% across West Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,248 commuters (the 10% 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.
In Ripley, walking beats the bus
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 12.9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.5% across West Virginia, on an EPA index of 7.7.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,391 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). 9.4% of Ripley households have no vehicle (West Virginia 8.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Ripley’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Ripley is 3,734th of 4,771 U.S. towns of 2,100 to 4,100
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 725 | Pinch WV | 4,037 | $77K | 5.1% | 0.0% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,029 | Williamstown WV | 2,922 | $89K | 5.2% | 1.9% | 6% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,442 | Bethlehem WV | 2,520 | $83K | 8.8% | 3.0% | 2% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,732 | Menominee Township MI | 3,306 | $66K | 8.9% | 6.4% | 3% | C− |
| 3,733 | Okanogan WA | 2,494 | $69K | 10.3% | 6.5% | 22% | C− |
| 3,734 | Ripley WV | 3,038 | $42K | 27.1% | 2.2% | 22% | C− |
| 3,735 | Green Township OH | 3,185 | $62K | 17.7% | 4.6% | 10% | C− |
| 3,736 | West Mahanoy Township PA | 2,909 | $85K | 20.7% | 11.5% | 5% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,771 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Ripley, 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 Ripley: questions
What is the median household income in Ripley?
$41,518 (±$14,399) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $59,608 across West Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ripley?
27.1%, against 16.7% across West Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ripley?
23 minutes each way on average, against 27 across West Virginia and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ripley work?
22% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Charleston (14%, 33 mi), Parkersburg (4%, 32 mi), South Charleston (3%, 33 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Ripley walkable?
Ripley is more walkable than 85% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 7.7 out of 20, and 13% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ripley 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 Ripley, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ripley
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.