Nitro vs South Charleston

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

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

South Charleston has the higher population (13,594 vs 6,941 in Nitro). South Charleston has the higher median household income ($59,616 vs $52,247 in Nitro). South Charleston has the higher median home value ($144,800 vs $120,400 in Nitro).

Population, income & housing

	Nitro	South Charleston
Population	6,941	13,594
Median age	42.1 yrs	41.1 yrs
Median household income	$52,247	$59,616
Median home value	$120,400	$144,800
Median gross rent	$916	$857
Housing units	3,499	6,733
Homeownership rate	70.4%	68.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.2%	35.3%
Unemployment rate	5.3%	6.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Nitro	South Charleston
Population	5,997 → 6,941 (+15.7%)	12,475 → 13,594 (+9.0%)
Median household income	$41,076 → $52,247 (+27.2%)	$53,713 → $59,616 (+11.0%)
Median home value	$97,900 → $120,400 (+23.0%)	$130,700 → $144,800 (+10.8%)
Median gross rent	$739 → $916 (+24.0%)	$702 → $857 (+22.1%)

Nitro

Population

5,9976,941

Median household income

$41,076$52,247

Median home value

$97,900$120,400

Median gross rent

$739$916

South Charleston

Population

12,47513,594

Median household income

$53,713$59,616

Median home value

$130,700$144,800

Median gross rent

$702$857

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Nitro	South Charleston
Under 5	6.9%	3.7%
5 to 17	18.6%	17.8%
18 to 24	4.0%	6.6%
25 to 34	15.9%	12.2%
35 to 44	8.9%	16.2%
45 to 54	9.6%	12.5%
55 to 64	16.2%	12.2%
65 to 74	10.8%	9.7%
75 and over	9.1%	9.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Nitro	South Charleston
White (non-Hispanic)	91.2%	84.9%
Black or African American	1.5%	7.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.3%
Asian	0.0%	1.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.1%
Two or more races	6.7%	4.7%
Hispanic or Latino	0.7%	1.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Nitro	South Charleston
No high school diploma	11.2%	4.3%
High school graduate	43.2%	30.3%
Some college or associate's	30.4%	30.1%
Bachelor's degree	7.7%	20.0%
Graduate or professional degree	7.5%	15.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Nitro	South Charleston
Drove alone	90.0%	77.7%
Carpooled	4.7%	9.2%
Public transit	0.0%	1.9%
Walked	1.7%	2.7%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	2.5%	8.3%
Other means	1.1%	0.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Nitro	South Charleston
1-unit, detached	77.7%	70.9%
1-unit, attached	1.7%	2.4%
2 to 4 units	9.0%	10.1%
5 to 19 units	6.9%	9.8%
20 or more units	2.5%	5.7%
Mobile home & other	2.3%	1.0%

Poverty & households

	Nitro	South Charleston
Poverty rate	21.6%	21.0%
Average household size	2.46	2.22
Mean commute (minutes)	24	19
Median year structure built	1958	1958