Charleston vs Dunbar

A side-by-side comparison of Charleston and Dunbar: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Charleston has the higher population (47,918 vs 7,340 in Dunbar). Charleston has the higher median household income ($64,512 vs $54,647 in Dunbar). Charleston has the higher median home value ($187,300 vs $121,100 in Dunbar).

Population, income & housing

	Charleston	Dunbar
Population	47,918	7,340
Median age	42.6 yrs	43.0 yrs
Median household income	$64,512	$54,647
Median home value	$187,300	$121,100
Median gross rent	$898	$904
Housing units	25,586	4,096
Homeownership rate	62.8%	58.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	44.1%	30.8%
Unemployment rate	6.3%	2.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Charleston	Dunbar
Population	48,006 → 47,918 (-0.2%)	7,333 → 7,340 (+0.1%)
Median household income	$43,344 → $64,512 (+48.8%)	$44,009 → $54,647 (+24.2%)
Median home value	$145,800 → $187,300 (+28.5%)	$98,400 → $121,100 (+23.1%)
Median gross rent	$735 → $898 (+22.2%)	$856 → $904 (+5.6%)

Charleston

Population

48,00647,918

Median household income

$43,344$64,512

Median home value

$145,800$187,300

Median gross rent

$735$898

Dunbar

Population

7,3337,340

Median household income

$44,009$54,647

Median home value

$98,400$121,100

Median gross rent

$856$904

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Charleston	Dunbar
Under 5	4.2%	3.9%
5 to 17	14.2%	13.1%
18 to 24	8.0%	11.2%
25 to 34	14.2%	11.1%
35 to 44	12.3%	13.7%
45 to 54	11.9%	10.2%
55 to 64	14.3%	13.4%
65 to 74	12.7%	11.2%
75 and over	8.1%	12.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Charleston	Dunbar
White (non-Hispanic)	75.9%	75.1%
Black or African American	11.8%	12.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	2.7%	0.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	1.9%
Some other race	0.1%	0.0%
Two or more races	7.5%	6.6%
Hispanic or Latino	1.9%	3.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Charleston	Dunbar
No high school diploma	7.9%	6.3%
High school graduate	22.8%	32.2%
Some college or associate's	25.2%	30.7%
Bachelor's degree	22.2%	22.0%
Graduate or professional degree	21.9%	8.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Charleston	Dunbar
Drove alone	70.7%	85.3%
Carpooled	8.5%	6.1%
Public transit	2.1%	1.9%
Walked	5.4%	1.5%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.0%
Worked from home	11.2%	5.1%
Other means	1.9%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Charleston	Dunbar
1-unit, detached	66.6%	74.3%
1-unit, attached	3.2%	2.5%
2 to 4 units	12.9%	6.8%
5 to 19 units	5.9%	7.9%
20 or more units	10.5%	7.8%
Mobile home & other	0.9%	0.8%

Poverty & households

	Charleston	Dunbar
Poverty rate	16.5%	18.3%
Average household size	2.16	2.00
Mean commute (minutes)	18	22
Median year structure built	1956	1956