Bolivar vs Shepherdstown

A side-by-side comparison of Bolivar and Shepherdstown: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Shepherdstown has the higher population (1,399 vs 1,317 in Bolivar). Bolivar has the higher median household income ($81,641 vs $62,500 in Shepherdstown). Shepherdstown has the higher median home value ($474,500 vs $253,700 in Bolivar).

Population, income & housing

	Bolivar	Shepherdstown
Population	1,317	1,399
Median age	39.5 yrs	21.7 yrs
Median household income	$81,641	$62,500
Median home value	$253,700	$474,500
Median gross rent	$1,420	$1,152
Housing units	629	350
Homeownership rate	58.6%	63.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	40.6%	71.4%
Unemployment rate	5.5%	13.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Bolivar	Shepherdstown
Population	1,234 → 1,317 (+6.7%)	1,553 → 1,399 (-9.9%)
Median household income	$72,344 → $81,641 (+12.9%)	$45,833 → $62,500 (+36.4%)
Median home value	$191,400 → $253,700 (+32.5%)	$303,600 → $474,500 (+56.3%)
Median gross rent	$1,055 → $1,420 (+34.6%)	$916 → $1,152 (+25.8%)

Bolivar

Population

1,2341,317

Median household income

$72,344$81,641

Median home value

$191,400$253,700

Median gross rent

$1,055$1,420

Shepherdstown

Population

1,5531,399

Median household income

$45,833$62,500

Median home value

$303,600$474,500

Median gross rent

$916$1,152

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Bolivar	Shepherdstown
Under 5	4.3%	1.1%
5 to 17	15.6%	4.4%
18 to 24	9.3%	62.0%
25 to 34	14.0%	6.1%
35 to 44	14.0%	6.9%
45 to 54	11.4%	3.9%
55 to 64	17.1%	3.4%
65 to 74	10.3%	7.0%
75 and over	4.0%	5.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Bolivar	Shepherdstown
White (non-Hispanic)	81.8%	84.4%
Black or African American	2.2%	11.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.4%	1.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	1.1%
Two or more races	6.6%	0.8%
Hispanic or Latino	8.7%	1.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Bolivar	Shepherdstown
No high school diploma	6.8%	2.6%
High school graduate	24.7%	3.5%
Some college or associate's	28.0%	22.5%
Bachelor's degree	24.7%	34.1%
Graduate or professional degree	15.9%	37.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Bolivar	Shepherdstown
Drove alone	74.4%	45.5%
Carpooled	5.4%	1.3%
Public transit	1.2%	1.4%
Walked	2.7%	30.7%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	16.3%	21.1%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Bolivar	Shepherdstown
1-unit, detached	61.5%	52.0%
1-unit, attached	20.0%	20.9%
2 to 4 units	7.3%	8.0%
5 to 19 units	9.9%	14.9%
20 or more units	1.3%	3.1%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	1.1%

Poverty & households

	Bolivar	Shepherdstown
Poverty rate	8.4%	7.7%
Average household size	2.35	1.86
Mean commute (minutes)	35	18
Median year structure built	1976	1938