Household incomes in Stanaford are lower than in 93% of U.S. towns
44.5% of residents live below the poverty line; West Virginia has 16.7%. The two grades for Stanaford are D for jobs and income and D for walkability. Hardly any work in Stanaford itself; outside it, Beckley draws the most (40%, 3 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Stanaford and work: the main findings
40% of Stanaford works in Beckley
185 working residents, 40%, have their main job in Beckley, 2.8 miles away. That’s far more as work in Stanaford itself. The commute map ↓
Most Stanaford residents work close to home
65% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. How far ↓
Commutes from Stanaford are quick
The average trip to work takes 20 minutes, against 27 across West Virginia. That’s about 54 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 464 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Stanaford’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty and job access, Stanaford is better than 10% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Stanaford’s grade up (ahead of 50% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
Unemployment (3.1%) is left out: Stanaford’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Stanaford could be anywhere from D to C+.
Where people from Stanaford work
Where Stanaford clocks in
40% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Stanaford
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.
Getting to work from Stanaford takes about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Stanaford workers work from home, vs 9% across West Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 430 commuters (the 7% 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 a workday changes Stanaford
On a workday 463 residents head out to work, 1 work right here, and 166 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,200 people are in Stanaford on a workday afternoon, 20% fewer than live here.
0.36 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 2023, primary jobs.
What Stanaford’s employers do
167 jobs are based in Stanaford.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Stanaford, 2013 → 2023: 171 → 167. 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 Stanaford’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Driving is how Stanaford gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Stanaford is more walkable than 6% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Stanaford 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 463 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 Stanaford households have no vehicle (West Virginia 8.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Stanaford’s commuters take a bus or train.
Stanaford next to U.S. towns of 1,000 to 2,000: 5,254th of 6,308 on jobs and income
| # | 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% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 872 | Belle WV | 1,088 | $77K | 3.3% | 10.6% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,109 | Barrackville WV | 1,196 | $79K | 4.1% | 3.7% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,302 | Coal Fork WV | 1,423 | $70K | 2.3% | 29.5% | <1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,252 | Trenton ME | 1,656 | $60K | 18.2% | 4.6% | 8% | D |
| 5,253 | Kraemer LA | 1,065 | $52K | 20.5% | 11.9% | 0% | D |
| 5,254 | Stanaford WV | 1,449 | $44K | 44.5% | 3.1% | <1% | D |
| 5,255 | Lawrence MI | 1,005 | $36K | 28.9% | 11.1% | 7% | D |
| 5,256 | Sweet Springs MO | 1,323 | $47K | 14.9% | 5.5% | 14% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 6,308 | 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 Stanaford, the top three, the last and three more from West Virginia.
Around Stanaford: the bordering towns
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Stanaford workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stanaford | – | D | D | 20 min | $44,219 |
| Piney View | under 1% | — | — | 21 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Piney View: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Stanaford’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Stanaford: questions
What is the median household income in Stanaford?
$44,219 (±$31,708) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $59,608 across West Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Stanaford?
44.5%, against 16.7% across West Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Stanaford?
20 minutes each way on average, against 27 across West Virginia and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Stanaford work?
<1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Beckley (40%, 3 mi), Charleston (4%, 46 mi), Prosperity (3%, 3 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Stanaford walkable?
Stanaford is more walkable than 6% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 4.7 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Stanaford 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 Stanaford, from the people who make the trip.
More of Stanaford
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.