McDowell vs Wheelwright

A side-by-side comparison of McDowell and Wheelwright: population, income, housing, and more.

McDowell and Wheelwright are places in Kentucky. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Wheelwright has the higher population (945 vs 549 in McDowell). Wheelwright has the higher median household income ($58,250 vs $35,576 in McDowell). Wheelwright has the higher median home value ($85,700 vs $73,600 in McDowell).

Population, income & housing

	McDowell	Wheelwright
Population	549	945
Median age	55.2 yrs	37.0 yrs
Median household income	$35,576	$58,250
Median home value	$73,600	$85,700
Median gross rent	—	$538
Housing units	344	316
Homeownership rate	82.5%	71.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	26.2%	10.7%
Unemployment rate	28.9%	12.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	McDowell	Wheelwright
Population	656 → 549 (-16.3%)	696 → 945 (+35.8%)
Median household income	$28,319 → $35,576 (+25.6%)	$20,417 → $58,250 (+185.3%)
Median home value	$70,400 → $73,600 (+4.5%)	$37,100 → $85,700 (+131.0%)
Median gross rent	$411 → $835 (+103.2%)	$535 → $538 (+0.6%)

McDowell

Population

656549

Median household income

$28,319$35,576

Median home value

$70,400$73,600

Median gross rent

$411$835

Wheelwright

Population

696945

Median household income

$20,417$58,250

Median home value

$37,100$85,700

Median gross rent

$535$538

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	McDowell	Wheelwright
Under 5	6.7%	4.6%
5 to 17	13.5%	11.5%
18 to 24	1.8%	5.7%
25 to 34	13.7%	21.4%
35 to 44	0.4%	22.8%
45 to 54	12.4%	7.3%
55 to 64	21.3%	16.8%
65 to 74	11.7%	7.6%
75 and over	18.6%	2.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	McDowell	Wheelwright
White (non-Hispanic)	99.6%	90.8%
Black or African American	0.4%	6.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	1.6%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	0.0%	1.3%
Hispanic or Latino	0.0%	0.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	McDowell	Wheelwright
No high school diploma	11.2%	26.7%
High school graduate	38.8%	37.9%
Some college or associate's	23.8%	24.8%
Bachelor's degree	8.9%	7.3%
Graduate or professional degree	17.3%	3.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	McDowell	Wheelwright
Drove alone	71.6%	94.1%
Carpooled	18.2%	4.3%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	10.2%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	0.0%	0.0%
Other means	0.0%	1.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	McDowell	Wheelwright
1-unit, detached	62.2%	86.4%
1-unit, attached	4.7%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	15.1%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	11.4%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	18.0%	2.2%

Poverty & households

	McDowell	Wheelwright
Poverty rate	41.0%	35.0%
Average household size	1.99	2.61
Mean commute (minutes)	—	38
Median year structure built	1985	1952