Alderson vs Fairlea

A side-by-side comparison of Alderson and Fairlea: population, income, housing, and more.

Alderson and Fairlea are places in West Virginia. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Fairlea has the higher population (1,266 vs 1,182 in Alderson). Alderson has the higher median household income ($33,794 vs $23,197 in Fairlea). Since 2019, Alderson's population has grown faster (+4.1% vs -19.2%).

Population, income & housing

	Alderson	Fairlea
Population	1,182	1,266
Median age	53.5 yrs	60.1 yrs
Median household income	$33,794	$23,197
Median home value	$119,200	—
Median gross rent	$724	$873
Housing units	660	829
Homeownership rate	70.6%	65.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	12.3%	14.0%
Unemployment rate	3.4%	8.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Alderson	Fairlea
Population	1,135 → 1,182 (+4.1%)	1,567 → 1,266 (-19.2%)
Median household income	$31,250 → $33,794 (+8.1%)	$32,700 → $23,197 (-29.1%)
Median home value	$85,500 → $119,200 (+39.4%)	—
Median gross rent	$631 → $724 (+14.7%)	$783 → $873 (+11.5%)

Alderson

Population

1,1351,182

Median household income

$31,250$33,794

Median home value

$85,500$119,200

Median gross rent

$631$724

Fairlea

Population

1,5671,266

Median household income

$32,700$23,197

Median gross rent

$783$873

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Alderson	Fairlea
Under 5	6.6%	0.0%
5 to 17	11.5%	10.5%
18 to 24	3.7%	4.6%
25 to 34	11.0%	5.2%
35 to 44	8.3%	10.9%
45 to 54	10.1%	11.1%
55 to 64	19.7%	26.7%
65 to 74	19.5%	15.0%
75 and over	9.6%	16.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Alderson	Fairlea
White (non-Hispanic)	96.1%	100.0%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.8%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	0.8%	0.0%
Hispanic or Latino	2.4%	0.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Alderson	Fairlea
No high school diploma	25.2%	24.7%
High school graduate	48.5%	44.1%
Some college or associate's	14.0%	17.2%
Bachelor's degree	7.6%	12.8%
Graduate or professional degree	4.8%	1.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Alderson	Fairlea
Drove alone	78.2%	70.4%
Carpooled	4.0%	19.4%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.9%	2.9%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	3.6%	7.3%
Other means	13.3%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Alderson	Fairlea
1-unit, detached	78.5%	35.3%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	4.0%
2 to 4 units	7.1%	8.7%
5 to 19 units	9.2%	4.9%
20 or more units	3.8%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	1.4%	47.0%

Poverty & households

	Alderson	Fairlea
Poverty rate	40.3%	30.7%
Average household size	2.13	1.58
Mean commute (minutes)	62	22
Median year structure built	1955	1981