Photo: 6wh07433 at English Wikipedia · Public domainFew U.S. towns have household incomes as low as Wayne’s
Household incomes here are among the lowest in the country. 25.8% of residents are in poverty; West Virginia has 16.7%. The two grades for Wayne are D− for jobs and income and C+ for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Wayne apart on work
Wayne is where the jobs are
Wayne has 1,427 jobs, 2.8 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 2,300 people are in town, 67% more than the 1,400 who live here. Day and night ↓
Wayne and Huntington trade workers both ways
Huntington is the top workplace for Wayne residents (31%) and also where the most people who work in Wayne come from (12% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Commutes from Wayne are quick
The average trip to work takes 21 minutes, against 27 across West Virginia. That’s about 46 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 502 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Inside Wayne’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Wayne is near the bottom of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Wayne’s grade.
Unemployment (5.5%) is left out: Wayne’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, Wayne stays D−.
The workday shuffle in and out of Wayne
On a workday 451 residents head out to work, 51 work right here, and 1,376 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,300 people are in Wayne on a workday afternoon, 67% more than live here.
2.8 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.
Where Wayne’s workforce comes from
Where Wayne clocks in
31% of workers
6% 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 Wayne spends getting to work: about 21 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Wayne workers work from home, vs 9% across West Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 516 commuters (the 4% 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.
What work there is in Wayne: 1,427 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Wayne, 2013 → 2023: 1,112 → 1,427. 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 Wayne’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Short hops and long hauls from Wayne
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 Wayne, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Wayne is more walkable than 39% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Wayne 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 540 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). 17.0% of Wayne households have no vehicle (West Virginia 8.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Wayne’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 1,000 to 1,900, and where Wayne sits
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 799 | Belle WV | 1,088 | $77K | 3.3% | 10.6% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,016 | Barrackville WV | 1,196 | $79K | 4.1% | 3.7% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,197 | Coal Fork WV | 1,423 | $70K | 2.3% | 29.5% | <1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,701 | South Bend WA | 1,790 | $45K | 24.2% | 7.8% | 22% | D− |
| 5,702 | Sistersville WV | 1,319 | $46K | 40.8% | 12.6% | 6% | D− |
| 5,703 | Wayne WV | 1,383 | $27K | 25.8% | 5.5% | 10% | D− |
| 5,704 | Blackbird Township NE | 1,275 | $45K | 34.9% | 31.9% | 46% | D− |
| 5,705 | Puget Island WA | 1,008 | $49K | 25.0% | 4.4% | 4% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,877 | 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 Wayne, 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 Wayne: questions
What is the median household income in Wayne?
$27,159 (±$16,759) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $59,608 across West Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Wayne?
25.8%, against 16.7% across West Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Wayne?
21 minutes each way on average, against 27 across West Virginia and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Wayne work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Huntington (31%, 12 mi), Charleston (6%, 45 mi), Barboursville (2%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Wayne walkable?
Wayne is more walkable than 39% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 6.2 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Wayne without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 17% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Wayne, from the people who make the trip.
More of Wayne
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.