Photo: Taber Andrew Bain from Richmond, VA, USA · CC BY 2.0Households in Wellsburg have lower incomes than those in 94% of U.S. towns
Home is the office for 1% of workers, against 9% across West Virginia. 20.3% of residents are in poverty, next to 16.7% for West Virginia as a whole. For jobs and income Wellsburg is better than 10% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns (B+).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Wellsburg
Wellsburg trades workers with the towns around it
Wellsburg has about as many jobs (1,230) as working residents (1,119), but they are mostly different people: 957 residents leave for work each day while 1,068 people come in. Only 13% of the jobs in Wellsburg are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Wellsburg 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 ↓
Few Wellsburg workers work from home
Only 1% of workers work from home, against 9% across West Virginia. Almost everyone here travels to a job. 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.
How Wellsburg earns its Jobs & income grade
Job access by car holds Wellsburg’s grade up (ahead of 39% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($42,868, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (13.3%) is left out: Wellsburg’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, Wellsburg could be anywhere from D to C.
Who commutes out of Wellsburg, and who commutes in
On a workday 957 residents head out to work, 162 work right here, and 1,068 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.10 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
From Wellsburg, about 20 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Wellsburg workers work from home, vs 9% across West Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 726 commuters (the 1% 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.
11% of working residents work in Weirton
Where Wellsburg clocks in
10% 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.
What the 1,230 jobs in Wellsburg are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Wellsburg, 2013 → 2023: 1,401 → 1,230. 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 Wellsburg’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Wellsburg’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.
Most trips from Wellsburg start in a car
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.5% across West Virginia.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 735 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). 7.9% of Wellsburg households have no vehicle (West Virginia 8.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Wellsburg’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Wellsburg is 4,371st of 5,102 U.S. towns of 1,600 to 3,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 926 | Williamstown WV | 2,922 | $89K | 5.2% | 1.9% | 6% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,336 | Bethlehem WV | 2,520 | $83K | 8.8% | 3.0% | 2% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,586 | Kenova WV | 2,841 | $54K | 9.0% | 0.0% | 9% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 4,369 | Gold Beach OR | 2,257 | $56K | 12.2% | 6.9% | 40% | D |
| 4,370 | Patton PA | 1,656 | $48K | 21.8% | 4.8% | 5% | D |
| 4,371 | Wellsburg WV | 2,255 | $43K | 20.3% | 13.3% | 14% | D |
| 4,372 | Nile Township OH | 2,265 | $57K | 16.1% | 6.4% | 6% | D |
| 4,373 | Magnolia MS | 1,804 | $55K | 29.8% | 6.4% | 13% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,102 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Wellsburg, the top three, the last and three more from West Virginia.
Wellsburg and its neighbors
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Wellsburg workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wellsburg | – | D | B+ | 20 min | $42,868 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Wellsburg’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 Wellsburg: questions
What is the median household income in Wellsburg?
$42,868 (±$3,900) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $59,608 across West Virginia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Wellsburg?
20.3%, against 16.7% across West Virginia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Wellsburg?
20 minutes each way on average, against 27 across West Virginia and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Wellsburg work?
14% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Weirton (11%, 9 mi), Wheeling (10%, 15 mi), Steubenville (4%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Wellsburg walkable?
Wellsburg is more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 11.0 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Wellsburg without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Wellsburg, from the people who make the trip.
More of Wellsburg
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.