Charleston vs Nitro

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

Charleston and Nitro 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 6,941 in Nitro). Charleston has the higher median household income ($64,512 vs $52,247 in Nitro). Charleston has the higher median home value ($187,300 vs $120,400 in Nitro).

Population, income & housing

	Charleston	Nitro
Population	47,918	6,941
Median age	42.6 yrs	42.1 yrs
Median household income	$64,512	$52,247
Median home value	$187,300	$120,400
Median gross rent	$898	$916
Housing units	25,586	3,499
Homeownership rate	62.8%	70.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	44.1%	15.2%
Unemployment rate	6.3%	5.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Charleston	Nitro
Population	48,006 → 47,918 (-0.2%)	5,997 → 6,941 (+15.7%)
Median household income	$43,344 → $64,512 (+48.8%)	$41,076 → $52,247 (+27.2%)
Median home value	$145,800 → $187,300 (+28.5%)	$97,900 → $120,400 (+23.0%)
Median gross rent	$735 → $898 (+22.2%)	$739 → $916 (+24.0%)

Charleston

Population

48,00647,918

Median household income

$43,344$64,512

Median home value

$145,800$187,300

Median gross rent

$735$898

Nitro

Population

5,9976,941

Median household income

$41,076$52,247

Median home value

$97,900$120,400

Median gross rent

$739$916

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Charleston	Nitro
Under 5	4.2%	6.9%
5 to 17	14.2%	18.6%
18 to 24	8.0%	4.0%
25 to 34	14.2%	15.9%
35 to 44	12.3%	8.9%
45 to 54	11.9%	9.6%
55 to 64	14.3%	16.2%
65 to 74	12.7%	10.8%
75 and over	8.1%	9.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Charleston	Nitro
White (non-Hispanic)	75.9%	91.2%
Black or African American	11.8%	1.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	2.7%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.0%
Two or more races	7.5%	6.7%
Hispanic or Latino	1.9%	0.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Charleston	Nitro
No high school diploma	7.9%	11.2%
High school graduate	22.8%	43.2%
Some college or associate's	25.2%	30.4%
Bachelor's degree	22.2%	7.7%
Graduate or professional degree	21.9%	7.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Charleston	Nitro
Drove alone	70.7%	90.0%
Carpooled	8.5%	4.7%
Public transit	2.1%	0.0%
Walked	5.4%	1.7%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.0%
Worked from home	11.2%	2.5%
Other means	1.9%	1.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Charleston	Nitro
1-unit, detached	66.6%	77.7%
1-unit, attached	3.2%	1.7%
2 to 4 units	12.9%	9.0%
5 to 19 units	5.9%	6.9%
20 or more units	10.5%	2.5%
Mobile home & other	0.9%	2.3%

Poverty & households

	Charleston	Nitro
Poverty rate	16.5%	21.6%
Average household size	2.16	2.46
Mean commute (minutes)	18	24
Median year structure built	1956	1958