Morgantown is a medium-sized city located in the state of West Virginia. With a population of 30,429 people and 24 associated neighborhoods, Morgantown is the third largest community in West Virginia. Morgantown real estate is some of the most expensive in West Virginia, although Morgantown house values don't compare to the most expensive real estate in the U.S.Morgantown is a decidedly white-collar city, with fully 89.64% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Morgantown is a city of professionals, service providers, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Morgantown who work in teaching (18.22%), sales jobs (9.82%), and food service (9.79%). Of important note, Morgantown is also a city of artists. Morgantown has more artists, designers and people working in media than 90% of the communities in America. This concentration of artists helps shape Morgantown’s character. A relatively large number of people in Morgantown telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 12.48% of the workforce works from home. While this may seem like a small number, as a fraction of the total workforce it ranks among the highest in the country. 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. In addition, Morgantown is a major college town that has a very high percentage of its residents over 18 years old who are college students. Naturally, collegiate life has a major influence on local Morgantown culture, lifestyle and entertainment options. Morgantown really pulses to the beat of the academic calendar. In Morgantown every fall, returning students reinvigorate the community, who you will notice are all over town, buying groceries, out with friends, and getting acquainted or re-acquainted with each other and Morgantown. One of the beneficial effects that colleges provide is that they tend to be lasting institutions that deliver direct economic benefits to the local economy in the form of such things as jobs for faculty and staff, and spending by students. Morgantown benefits directly from this. Residents of the city have the good fortune of having one of the shortest daily commutes compared to the rest of the country. On average, they spend only 18.53 minutes getting to work every day.If knowledge is power, Morgantown is a pretty powerful place. 58.12% of the adults in Morgantown have earned a 4-year college degree, masters degree, MD, law degree, or even PhD. Compare that to the national average of 21.84% for all cities and towns. The per capita income in Morgantown in 2022 was $30,286, which is upper middle income relative to West Virginia, and lower middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $121,144 for a family of four. However, Morgantown contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Morgantown also has one of the higher rates of people living in poverty in the nation, with 33.62% of its population below the federal poverty line.Morgantown is a somewhat ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Morgantown home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Morgantown residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Morgantown include German, Irish, English, Italian, and Polish. The most common language spoken in Morgantown is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Arabic.
