West Union is a tiny town located in the state of West Virginia. With a population of 639 people and just one neighborhood, West Union is the 181st largest community in West Virginia. West Union has an unusually large stock of pre-World War II architecture, making it one of the older and more historic towns.
When you are in West Union, you'll notice that it is more blue-collar than most other communities in America. 43.71% of West Union’s employed work in blue-collar jobs, while America averages only 27.7% that do. Overall, West Union is a town of professionals, production and manufacturing workers, and service providers. There are especially a lot of people living in West Union who work in legal occupations (10.69%), management occupations (7.50%), and healthcare (7.13%).
Also of interest is that West Union has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.
One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 13.32% of the workforce. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce this is high compared to the rest of the county. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes.
As is often the case in a small town, West Union doesn't have a public transportation system that people use for their commute.
The citizens of West Union are slightly less educated than the national average of 21.84% for the average city or town: 15.40% of adults in West Union have a bachelor's degree or advanced degree
The per capita income in West Union in 2022 was $43,108, which is wealthy relative to West Virginia, and upper middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $172,432 for a family of four. However, West Union contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
The people who call West Union home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of West Union residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in West Union include German, English, Jamaican, European, and Irish.
The most common language spoken in West Union is English. Other important languages spoken here include Italian and Navajo.
The way a neighborhood looks and feels when you walk or drive around it, from its setting, its buildings, and its flavor, can make all the difference. This neighborhood has some really cool things about the way it looks and feels as revealed by NeighborhoodScout's exclusive research. This might include anything from the housing stock to the types of households living here to how people get around.
An interesting characteristic about the neighborhood is that there are more incarcerated people living here than 99.0% of neighborhoods in the U.S. The United States has the highest rate of incarceration in the world, currently with 1 out of every 100 adults in the country are incarcerated as a punishment for crimes committed. The extremely high incarceration rate of this neighborhood could mean that a prison, juvenile detention facility or other correctional facility occupies a large proportion of the neighborhood, or contains a large portion of the neighborhood's population.
More people work in manufacturing and as laborers here in the neighborhood than in 96.8% of the neighborhoods in America. Despite the loss of manufacturing jobs across the nation, this neighborhood remains a place where, compared to other parts of the country, you will find many laborers and manufacturers.
This neighborhood has wide open spaces, few people, and lots of space to stretch out. If you like locations that fit that description, you may like this neighborhood. Based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis, with only 34 people per square mile living here, this neighborhood is less crowded than 91.9% of America.
Did you know that the neighborhood has more Scottish ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 7.2% of this neighborhood's residents have Scottish ancestry.
How wealthy a neighborhood is, from very wealthy, to middle income, to low income is very formative with regard to the personality and character of a neighborhood. Equally important is the rate of people, particularly children, who live below the federal poverty line. In some wealthy gated communities, the areas immediately surrounding can have high rates of childhood poverty, which indicates other social issues. NeighborhoodScout's analysis reveals both aspects of income and poverty for this neighborhood.
The neighbors in the neighborhood in West Union are lower-middle income, making it a below average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 61.9% of U.S. neighborhoods. In addition, 9.9% of the children seventeen and under living in this neighborhood are living below the federal poverty line, which is a lower rate of childhood poverty than is found in 50.3% of America's neighborhoods.
What we choose to do for a living reflects who we are. Each neighborhood has a different mix of occupations represented, and together these tell you about the neighborhood and help you understand if this neighborhood may fit your lifestyle.
In the neighborhood, 44.1% of the working population is employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is executive, management, and professional occupations, with 22.1% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations (18.9%), and 14.9% in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants.
The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 98.2% of households. Some people also speak Italian (5.8%).
Boston's Beacon Hill blue-blood streets, Brooklyn's Orthodox Jewish enclaves, Los Angeles' Persian neighborhoods. Each has its own culture derived primarily from the ancestries and culture of the residents who call these neighborhoods home. Likewise, each neighborhood in America has its own culture – some more unique than others – based on lifestyle, occupations, the types of households – and importantly – on the ethnicities and ancestries of the people who live in the neighborhood. Understanding where people came from, who their grandparents or great-grandparents were, can help you understand how a neighborhood is today.
In the neighborhood in West Union, WV, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as German (20.9%). There are also a number of people of English ancestry (15.2%), and residents who report Irish roots (11.8%), and some of the residents are also of Scottish ancestry (7.2%), along with some French ancestry residents (2.9%), among others.
Even if your neighborhood is walkable, you may still have to drive to your place of work. Some neighborhoods are located where many can get to work in just a few minutes, while others are located such that most residents have a long and arduous commute. The greatest number of commuters in neighborhood spend between 30 and 45 minutes commuting one-way to work (40.7% of working residents), which is at or a bit above the average length of a commute across all U.S. neighborhoods.
Here most residents (83.4%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also carpool with coworkers, friends, or neighbors to get to work (9.8%) . In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.