Bluefield vs Princeton

A side-by-side comparison of Bluefield and Princeton: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Bluefield has the higher population (9,511 vs 5,780 in Princeton). Princeton has the higher median household income ($44,428 vs $43,826 in Bluefield). Princeton has the higher median home value ($115,800 vs $101,000 in Bluefield).

Population, income & housing

	Bluefield	Princeton
Population	9,511	5,780
Median age	41.2 yrs	43.4 yrs
Median household income	$43,826	$44,428
Median home value	$101,000	$115,800
Median gross rent	$790	$830
Housing units	4,850	3,288
Homeownership rate	54.6%	54.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	24.7%	19.2%
Unemployment rate	6.9%	5.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Bluefield	Princeton
Population	9,889 → 9,511 (-3.8%)	5,831 → 5,780 (-0.9%)
Median household income	$36,793 → $43,826 (+19.1%)	$42,025 → $44,428 (+5.7%)
Median home value	$84,100 → $101,000 (+20.1%)	$93,700 → $115,800 (+23.6%)
Median gross rent	$664 → $790 (+19.0%)	$711 → $830 (+16.7%)

Bluefield

Population

9,8899,511

Median household income

$36,793$43,826

Median home value

$84,100$101,000

Median gross rent

$664$790

Princeton

Population

5,8315,780

Median household income

$42,025$44,428

Median home value

$93,700$115,800

Median gross rent

$711$830

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Bluefield	Princeton
Under 5	7.3%	5.6%
5 to 17	14.9%	13.3%
18 to 24	9.6%	6.4%
25 to 34	12.4%	17.0%
35 to 44	8.2%	9.5%
45 to 54	16.3%	17.1%
55 to 64	11.5%	9.6%
65 to 74	9.8%	12.8%
75 and over	10.1%	8.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Bluefield	Princeton
White (non-Hispanic)	75.0%	87.1%
Black or African American	15.0%	4.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.3%	0.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.6%	0.0%
Two or more races	6.1%	7.8%
Hispanic or Latino	3.0%	0.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Bluefield	Princeton
No high school diploma	12.9%	9.5%
High school graduate	28.7%	42.6%
Some college or associate's	33.7%	28.7%
Bachelor's degree	16.1%	12.0%
Graduate or professional degree	8.6%	7.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Bluefield	Princeton
Drove alone	79.4%	77.9%
Carpooled	8.2%	9.1%
Public transit	1.1%	0.5%
Walked	1.0%	3.8%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	7.4%	8.7%
Other means	2.9%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Bluefield	Princeton
1-unit, detached	75.2%	64.3%
1-unit, attached	2.6%	2.6%
2 to 4 units	4.7%	14.1%
5 to 19 units	8.5%	10.3%
20 or more units	5.9%	3.5%
Mobile home & other	3.2%	5.2%

Poverty & households

	Bluefield	Princeton
Poverty rate	20.1%	21.4%
Average household size	2.34	2.24
Mean commute (minutes)	22	19
Median year structure built	1954	1956