Charleston vs St. Albans

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

Charleston and St. Albans 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 10,637 in St. Albans). Charleston has the higher median household income ($64,512 vs $58,788 in St. Albans). Charleston has the higher median home value ($187,300 vs $131,800 in St. Albans).

Population, income & housing

	Charleston	St. Albans
Population	47,918	10,637
Median age	42.6 yrs	47.1 yrs
Median household income	$64,512	$58,788
Median home value	$187,300	$131,800
Median gross rent	$898	$888
Housing units	25,586	5,300
Homeownership rate	62.8%	73.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	44.1%	29.0%
Unemployment rate	6.3%	6.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Charleston	St. Albans
Population	48,006 → 47,918 (-0.2%)	10,270 → 10,637 (+3.6%)
Median household income	$43,344 → $64,512 (+48.8%)	$50,755 → $58,788 (+15.8%)
Median home value	$145,800 → $187,300 (+28.5%)	$113,300 → $131,800 (+16.3%)
Median gross rent	$735 → $898 (+22.2%)	$768 → $888 (+15.6%)

Charleston

Population

48,00647,918

Median household income

$43,344$64,512

Median home value

$145,800$187,300

Median gross rent

$735$898

St. Albans

Population

10,27010,637

Median household income

$50,755$58,788

Median home value

$113,300$131,800

Median gross rent

$768$888

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Charleston	St. Albans
Under 5	4.2%	3.8%
5 to 17	14.2%	15.2%
18 to 24	8.0%	5.4%
25 to 34	14.2%	12.4%
35 to 44	12.3%	11.1%
45 to 54	11.9%	8.7%
55 to 64	14.3%	16.5%
65 to 74	12.7%	15.5%
75 and over	8.1%	11.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Charleston	St. Albans
White (non-Hispanic)	75.9%	88.5%
Black or African American	11.8%	5.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	2.7%	0.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.4%
Two or more races	7.5%	3.7%
Hispanic or Latino	1.9%	1.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Charleston	St. Albans
No high school diploma	7.9%	7.1%
High school graduate	22.8%	34.8%
Some college or associate's	25.2%	29.1%
Bachelor's degree	22.2%	19.4%
Graduate or professional degree	21.9%	9.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Charleston	St. Albans
Drove alone	70.7%	77.2%
Carpooled	8.5%	8.4%
Public transit	2.1%	2.0%
Walked	5.4%	3.3%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.6%
Worked from home	11.2%	8.5%
Other means	1.9%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Charleston	St. Albans
1-unit, detached	66.6%	84.9%
1-unit, attached	3.2%	1.8%
2 to 4 units	12.9%	7.2%
5 to 19 units	5.9%	1.8%
20 or more units	10.5%	4.0%
Mobile home & other	0.9%	0.3%

Poverty & households

	Charleston	St. Albans
Poverty rate	16.5%	13.4%
Average household size	2.16	2.24
Mean commute (minutes)	18	22
Median year structure built	1956	1956