Matewan is a tiny town located in the state of West Virginia. With a population of 394 people and just one neighborhood, Matewan is the 214th largest community in West Virginia.
Matewan is a decidedly white-collar town, with fully 90.83% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Matewan is a town of sales and office workers, service providers, and professionals. There are especially a lot of people living in Matewan who work in sales jobs (24.17%), food service (19.17%), and office and administrative support (15.00%).
It is a fairly quiet town because there are relatively few of those groups of people who have a tendency to be noisy. (Children, for example, often can't help themselves from being noisy, and being parents ourselves, we know!) Matewan has relatively few families with children living at home, and is quieter because of it. Renters and college students, for their own reasons, can also be noisy. Matewan has few renters and college students. But the biggest reason it is quieter in Matewan than in most places in America, is that there are just simply fewer people living here. If you think trees make good neighbors, Matewan may be for you.
Residents of the town have the good fortune of having one of the shortest daily commutes compared to the rest of the country. On average, they spend only 16.63 minutes getting to work every day.
Being a small town, Matewan does not have a public transit system used by locals to get to and from work.
Matewan ranks among the bottom of the nation in terms of college education compared to other cities and towns: only 4.32% of people over 25 have a college degree.
The per capita income in Matewan in 2022 was $14,868, which is low income relative to West Virginia and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $59,472 for a family of four. Matewan also has one of the higher rates of people living in poverty in the nation, with 30.82% of its population below the federal poverty line.
The people who call Matewan home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Matewan residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Matewan include Irish, German, English, Italian, and Dutch.
The most common language spoken in Matewan is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Italian.
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.
One of the unique characteristics of the neighborhood revealed by analysis is that the per capita income of residents here is lower than that found in 97.0% of the neighborhoods in America.
The real estate in this neighborhood consists of more mobile homes than 96.8% of all neighborhoods in America, with 35.7% of the occupied housing here being classified as mobile homes. So if you are looking for a mobile home, or you like the look and feel of mobile home parks, this neighborhood might have the setting you desire.
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 Matewan are low income, making it among the lowest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 97.0% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 42.8% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 90.7% 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, 35.1% 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 executive, management, and professional occupations, with 28.1% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in manufacturing and laborer occupations (25.6%), and 11.2% in clerical, assistant, and tech support occupations.
The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 96.7% of households. Some people also speak Chinese (2.4%).
Culture is the shared learned behavior of peoples. Undeniably, different ethnicities and ancestries have different cultural traditions, and as a result, neighborhoods with concentrations of residents of one or another ethnicities or ancestries will express those cultures. It is what makes the North End in Boston so fun to visit for the Italian restaurants, bakeries, culture, and charm, and similarly, why people enjoy visiting Chinatown in San Francisco.
In the neighborhood in Matewan, WV, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as Irish (15.9%). There are also a number of people of English ancestry (6.1%), and residents who report German roots (4.8%), and some of the residents are also of Italian ancestry (3.8%), along with some Scottish ancestry residents (1.3%), 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 15 and 30 minutes commuting one-way to work (40.9% of working residents), which is shorter than the time spent commuting to work for most Americans.
Here most residents (83.7%) 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 (8.3%) and 8.0% of residents also hop out the door and walk to work 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.