Beckley is a somewhat small city located in the state of West Virginia. With a population of 17,425 people and nine constituent neighborhoods, Beckley is the 9th largest community in West Virginia.

Unlike some cities, Beckley isn't mainly white- or blue-collar. Instead, the most prevalent occupations for people in Beckley are a mix of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Beckley is a city of sales and office workers, professionals, and service providers. There are especially a lot of people living in Beckley who work in sales jobs (15.82%), office and administrative support jobs (14.31%), and healthcare (9.09%).

One of the benefits of Beckley is that there is very little traffic. The average commute to work is 18.21 minutes, which is substantially less than the national average. Not only does this mean that the drive to work is less aggravating, but noise and pollution levels are lower as a result.

Beckley is a very car-oriented city. This is because most people - 96.8% - drive by car to work every day, and few people choose alternative modes of transportation, such as public transit, cycling, or walking. In general, car-oriented communities have a layout that emphasizes streets, highways, and ease of parking, and sometimes this can be to the detriment of human-scale priorities such as walkability alongside roads, and public spaces. For example, strip malls are something you will find in Beckley.

Beckley Information and Demographics

In terms of college education, Beckley is somewhat better educated than the 14.96% who have a 4-year degree or higher in the typical US community: 21.04% of adults 25 and older in the city have at least a bachelor's degree.

The per capita income in Beckley in 2000 was $18,912, 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 $75,648 for a family of four.

Beckley is a very ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Beckley home come from a variety of different races and ancestries. The most prevalent race in Beckley is White, followed by African-American. Important ancestries of people in Beckley include English, German, Irish, and Italian.

The most common language spoken in Beckley is English.