Most of Tornado commutes out: there are 0.2 jobs for every working resident
Jobs and income earn Tornado B; getting around on foot earns it C−. There are 125 jobs in Tornado; 510 of its residents have a job. Only 1% work in Tornado; the top destination outside it is Charleston (28%, 12 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Tornado and work: the main findings
Tornado is a place people come home to
There are 125 jobs based in Tornado, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Tornado has about 730 people in it, 35% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
28% of Tornado works in Charleston
144 working residents, 28%, have their main job in Charleston, 12 miles away. That’s 28 times as many as work in Tornado 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 510 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Tornado’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Tornado is better than 58% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Tornado’s grade. It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
Unemployment (0.4%) is left out: Tornado’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, Tornado could be anywhere from C to A−.
In and out of Tornado on a workday
On a workday 503 residents head out to work, 7 work right here, and 118 people come in from elsewhere.
About 730 people are in Tornado on a workday afternoon, 35% 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.
Where Tornado’s working residents head each day
Where Tornado clocks in
28% of workers
10% of workers
6% 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 place that makes things: 45% of Tornado’s jobs are in goods
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Tornado, 2013 → 2023: 48 → 125. 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 Tornado’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Tornado: about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Tornado workers work from home, vs 9% across West Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 489 commuters (the 2% 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 distance from Tornado to work
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.
Driving is how Tornado gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Tornado is more walkable than 17% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 1.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.5% across West Virginia, on an EPA index of 3.9.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 500 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). 7.0% of Tornado households have no vehicle (West Virginia 8.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Tornado’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 3,771 U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500, Tornado comes 966th 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 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 470 | Belle WV | 1,088 | $77K | 3.3% | 10.6% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 605 | Barrackville WV | 1,196 | $79K | 4.1% | 3.7% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 719 | Coal Fork WV | 1,423 | $70K | 2.3% | 29.5% | <1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 964 | Hillcrest IL | 1,210 | $81K | 9.6% | 3.9% | 3% | B |
| 965 | Mazon Township IL | 1,482 | $82K | 8.1% | 2.1% | 3% | B |
| 966 | Tornado WV | 1,114 | $83K | 8.8% | 0.4% | 1% | B |
| 967 | Woodward IA | 1,426 | $66K | 7.0% | 1.1% | 3% | B |
| 968 | Groton SD | 1,337 | $90K | 4.3% | 1.1% | 12% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 3,771 | 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 Tornado, 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 Tornado: questions
What is the median household income in Tornado?
$83,000 (±$24,827) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $59,608 across West Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Tornado?
8.8%, against 16.7% across West Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Tornado?
24 minutes each way on average, against 27 across West Virginia and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Tornado work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Charleston (28%, 12 mi), South Charleston (10%, 8 mi), St. Albans (6%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Tornado walkable?
Tornado is more walkable than 17% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 3.9 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Tornado without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Tornado, from the people who make the trip.
More of Tornado
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.