CHARLESTON – What are the most successful cities in West Virginia? A career expertise website known as Zippia.com has published a ranking of the 10 most successful cities in the state.
Bridgeport came in first, with Hurricane second and Nitro third; South Charleston and St. Albans rounded out the top five, followed by Vienna, Charles Town, Charleston, Weirton and Bluefield.
What was the list’s criteria? It was based on a Zippia-created formula, looking at the government’s American Community Survey data from 2010 to 2014, specifically three statistics: poverty level, median household income and unemployment rate. Zippia.com then found the 27 cities and towns in West Virginia with more than 5,000 people, ranked those communities 1 through 27 in various criteria, and averaged out the numbers into a “success score.”
Keyser came in last of the 27, followed by Huntington, Grafton, Buckhannon, Moundsville and Morgantown.
Bridgeport, with its median income of $80,240, poverty rate of 3 percent and unemployment rate of 6.2 percent, came in first.
“Bridgeport takes pride in each and every one of the recognitions it receives,” Mayor Robert Greer told The West Virginia Record.
Hurricane was second, with $57,044 in median income, a poverty rate of 7.7 percent and an unemployment rate of 6 percent.
“I was happy to see that Hurricane was ranked second, but at the same time, disappointed that we were not first,” Hurricane Mayor Scott Edwards said.
“Being second gives us more to work toward, which our city staff and the citizens of Hurricane seem to do all the time, which makes Hurricane a great place to live, work and play!
"We are continuing to make improvements each and every day and hopefully next year we will be ranked number one. That’s what I am striving for!”