West Liberty is a very small town located in the state of West Virginia. With a population of 1,443 people and just one neighborhood, West Liberty is the 132nd largest community in West Virginia. West Liberty has an unusually large stock of pre-World War II architecture, making it one of the older and more historic towns.
West Liberty is a decidedly white-collar town, with fully 91.67% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, West Liberty is a town of service providers, sales and office workers, and professionals. There are especially a lot of people living in West Liberty who work in food service (26.87%), sales jobs (18.41%), and personal care services (11.07%).
One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 12.55% 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.
The education level of West Liberty ranks among the highest in the nation. Of the 25-and-older adult population in West Liberty, 41.67% have at least a bachelor's degree. The typical US community has just 21.84% of its adults holding a bachelor's degree or graduate degree.
The per capita income in West Liberty in 2018 was $10,929, which is low income relative to West Virginia and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $43,716 for a family of four. However, West Liberty contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. West Liberty also has one of the higher rates of people living in poverty in the nation, with 34.08% of its population below the federal poverty line.
The people who call West Liberty home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of West Liberty residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in West Liberty include German, Irish, Polish, Italian, and Scots-Irish.
The most common language spoken in West Liberty is English. Other important languages spoken here include Russian and French.
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 extraordinary 33.3% of the residents of the neighborhood are currently enrolled in college. This is such a large part of life in this neighborhood that the neighborhood changes a great deal with the change of semesters and is far quieter during the summer when many students are away.
In addition, the neighborhood stands out within West Virginia for its college student friendly environment. NeighborhoodScout's analysis reveals that this neighborhood is home to a number of college students, is relatively walkable, and above average in safety. In combination, this makes it stand out for a good place for college students to consider. Because a number of college students live here, this neighborhood may be close to a college campus and offer certain amenities nearby geared towards the student body. While it's not an environment for everyone, ambitious scholars can enjoy seasonal excitement between semesters and school breaks, and parents can rest easy knowing that the area has an above average safety rating. For each of these reasons, the neighborhood is rated among the top 9.2% of college-friendly places to live in WV.
There are more people living in the neighborhood employed as sales and service workers (58.7%) than almost any neighborhood in the country. From fast-food service workers to major sales accounts, sales and service workers make up the largest proportion of our national employment picture. But despite that size and importance nationally, this neighborhood still stands out as unique due to the dominance of people living here who work in such occupations.
More people in choose to walk to work each day (13.2%) than almost any neighborhood in America. If you are attracted to the idea of being able to walk to work, this neighborhood could be a good choice.
Did you know that the neighborhood has more Scots-Irish and Slovak ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 5.2% of this neighborhood's residents have Scots-Irish ancestry and 1.7% have Slovak ancestry.
There are two complementary measures for understanding the income of a neighborhood's residents: the average and the extremes. While a neighborhood may be relatively wealthy overall, it is equally important to understand the rate of people - particularly children - who are living at or below the federal poverty line, which is extremely low income. Some neighborhoods with a lower average income may actually have a lower childhood poverty rate than another with a higher average income, and this helps us understand the conditions and character of a neighborhood.
The neighbors in the neighborhood in West Liberty are middle-income, making it a moderate income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 46.0% of the neighborhoods in America. With 14.1% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 57.4% of U.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, 41.3% of the working population is employed in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is manufacturing and laborer occupations, with 23.3% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in executive, management, and professional occupations (20.3%), and 15.1% in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations.
The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 98.3% of households.
Culture is shared learned behavior. We learn it from our parents, their parents, our houses of worship, and much of our culture – our learned behavior – comes from our ancestors. That is why ancestry and ethnicity can be so interesting and important to understand: places with concentrations of people of one or more ancestries often express those shared learned behaviors and this gives each neighborhood its own culture. Even different neighborhoods in the same city can have drastically different cultures.
In the neighborhood in West Liberty, WV, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as German (22.2%). There are also a number of people of Irish ancestry (16.7%), and residents who report English roots (7.3%), and some of the residents are also of Italian ancestry (7.3%), along with some Scots-Irish ancestry residents (5.2%), 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 under 15 minutes commuting one-way to work (38.1% of working residents), one of the shortest commutes across America.
Here most residents (69.3%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also hop out the door and walk to work to get to work (13.2%) and 5.5% of residents also carpool with coworkers, friends, or neighbors for their daily commute. In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.