Charles Town vs Shepherdstown

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

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

Charles Town has the higher population (6,854 vs 1,399 in Shepherdstown). Charles Town has the higher median household income ($94,830 vs $62,500 in Shepherdstown). Shepherdstown has the higher median home value ($474,500 vs $359,500 in Charles Town).

Population, income & housing

	Charles Town	Shepherdstown
Population	6,854	1,399
Median age	38.5 yrs	21.7 yrs
Median household income	$94,830	$62,500
Median home value	$359,500	$474,500
Median gross rent	$1,086	$1,152
Housing units	2,741	350
Homeownership rate	73.7%	63.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	38.1%	71.4%
Unemployment rate	5.5%	13.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Charles Town	Shepherdstown
Population	5,943 → 6,854 (+15.3%)	1,553 → 1,399 (-9.9%)
Median household income	$80,278 → $94,830 (+18.1%)	$45,833 → $62,500 (+36.4%)
Median home value	$255,600 → $359,500 (+40.6%)	$303,600 → $474,500 (+56.3%)
Median gross rent	$928 → $1,086 (+17.0%)	$916 → $1,152 (+25.8%)

Charles Town

Population

5,9436,854

Median household income

$80,278$94,830

Median home value

$255,600$359,500

Median gross rent

$928$1,086

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)

	Charles Town	Shepherdstown
Under 5	5.1%	1.1%
5 to 17	20.8%	4.4%
18 to 24	3.7%	62.0%
25 to 34	14.1%	6.1%
35 to 44	17.3%	6.9%
45 to 54	13.4%	3.9%
55 to 64	11.2%	3.4%
65 to 74	9.7%	7.0%
75 and over	4.7%	5.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Charles Town	Shepherdstown
White (non-Hispanic)	69.8%	84.4%
Black or African American	12.1%	11.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	2.1%	1.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	1.1%
Two or more races	4.6%	0.8%
Hispanic or Latino	11.5%	1.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Charles Town	Shepherdstown
No high school diploma	6.0%	2.6%
High school graduate	26.2%	3.5%
Some college or associate's	29.7%	22.5%
Bachelor's degree	23.1%	34.1%
Graduate or professional degree	15.0%	37.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Charles Town	Shepherdstown
Drove alone	71.4%	45.5%
Carpooled	7.1%	1.3%
Public transit	0.3%	1.4%
Walked	2.8%	30.7%
Bicycle	1.4%	0.0%
Worked from home	16.2%	21.1%
Other means	0.8%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Charles Town	Shepherdstown
1-unit, detached	76.9%	52.0%
1-unit, attached	8.1%	20.9%
2 to 4 units	3.0%	8.0%
5 to 19 units	7.3%	14.9%
20 or more units	4.6%	3.1%
Mobile home & other	0.1%	1.1%

Poverty & households

	Charles Town	Shepherdstown
Poverty rate	7.4%	7.7%
Average household size	2.67	1.86
Mean commute (minutes)	40	18
Median year structure built	2001	1938