Benwood vs McMechen

A side-by-side comparison of Benwood and McMechen: population, income, housing, and more.

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

McMechen has the higher population (1,735 vs 1,173 in Benwood). McMechen has the higher median household income ($42,863 vs $39,474 in Benwood). Benwood has the higher median home value ($90,400 vs $89,500 in McMechen).

Population, income & housing

	Benwood	McMechen
Population	1,173	1,735
Median age	47.1 yrs	33.4 yrs
Median household income	$39,474	$42,863
Median home value	$90,400	$89,500
Median gross rent	$681	$562
Housing units	709	864
Homeownership rate	67.4%	63.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	9.1%	14.5%
Unemployment rate	3.3%	7.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Benwood	McMechen
Population	1,390 → 1,173 (-15.6%)	1,744 → 1,735 (-0.5%)
Median household income	$33,333 → $39,474 (+18.4%)	$41,250 → $42,863 (+3.9%)
Median home value	$58,700 → $90,400 (+54.0%)	$69,400 → $89,500 (+29.0%)
Median gross rent	$553 → $681 (+23.1%)	$670 → $562 (-16.1%)

Benwood

Population

1,3901,173

Median household income

$33,333$39,474

Median home value

$58,700$90,400

Median gross rent

$553$681

McMechen

Population

1,7441,735

Median household income

$41,250$42,863

Median home value

$69,400$89,500

Median gross rent

$670$562

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Benwood	McMechen
Under 5	2.9%	3.1%
5 to 17	13.3%	27.4%
18 to 24	6.8%	4.7%
25 to 34	13.2%	21.2%
35 to 44	11.3%	9.7%
45 to 54	10.1%	7.7%
55 to 64	21.4%	11.4%
65 to 74	13.8%	8.0%
75 and over	7.2%	6.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Benwood	McMechen
White (non-Hispanic)	87.6%	86.3%
Black or African American	1.0%	0.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.0%
Asian	0.3%	0.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.6%
Two or more races	10.0%	12.6%
Hispanic or Latino	1.0%	0.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Benwood	McMechen
No high school diploma	11.8%	9.5%
High school graduate	43.7%	44.4%
Some college or associate's	35.3%	31.6%
Bachelor's degree	6.1%	10.4%
Graduate or professional degree	3.0%	4.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Benwood	McMechen
Drove alone	78.9%	79.2%
Carpooled	13.2%	11.9%
Public transit	0.2%	1.0%
Walked	4.9%	1.1%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	2.2%	3.4%
Other means	0.6%	3.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Benwood	McMechen
1-unit, detached	63.8%	74.9%
1-unit, attached	12.8%	6.5%
2 to 4 units	15.8%	13.8%
5 to 19 units	3.2%	1.7%
20 or more units	2.3%	0.8%
Mobile home & other	2.1%	2.3%

Poverty & households

	Benwood	McMechen
Poverty rate	24.9%	26.7%
Average household size	2.08	2.49
Mean commute (minutes)	19	24
Median year structure built	1945	1938