98% of Harpers Ferry’s working residents leave town for work
Most working residents leave Harpers Ferry for work: only 2% work in town. The top destinations are Charles Town (7%), Ranson corporation (7%) and Tysons (4%). Half commute less than 17 miles.
What kind of work town is Harpers Ferry?
Read from the numbers below. The page puts what stands out first.
About 41 minutes each way, longer than most of West Virginia
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 13.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Harpers Ferry workers work from home, vs 9% across West Virginia. Their commute is the hallway.
7% of working residents work in Charles Town
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Harpers Ferry clocks in
7% of workers
4% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 134 residents head out to work, 3 work right here, and 151 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 (1.12 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.
Half of Harpers Ferry commutes less than 17 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Mostly services: health care, schools and offices
154 jobs are based in Harpers Ferry. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Harpers Ferry’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Harpers Ferry, 2013 → 2023: 131 → 154. 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.
Harpers Ferry and the towns next door
Darker towns draw more of Harpers Ferry’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Every worker, home to work. The Census links each worker’s home block to their main job’s block, for jobs covered by unemployment insurance. That’s most jobs, but not the self-employed.
- Where the employer says. A job counts where the employer reports it. Some big employers report one address for many sites, which can make a few commutes look longer than they are.
- Two surveys. Flows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: the Census American Community Survey.
- Straight lines. Distances are as the crow flies between home and work. Roads, rivers and traffic make the real trip longer.
More of Harpers Ferry
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Harpers Ferry, from the people who make the trip.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
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.