Beckley vs Sophia

A side-by-side comparison of Beckley and Sophia: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Beckley has the higher population (16,977 vs 1,654 in Sophia). Beckley has the higher median household income ($39,939 vs $34,498 in Sophia). Beckley has the higher median home value ($148,800 vs $112,900 in Sophia).

Population, income & housing

	Beckley	Sophia
Population	16,977	1,654
Median age	39.0 yrs	45.6 yrs
Median household income	$39,939	$34,498
Median home value	$148,800	$112,900
Median gross rent	$867	$782
Housing units	8,822	788
Homeownership rate	53.2%	63.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	25.9%	8.2%
Unemployment rate	2.7%	11.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Beckley	Sophia
Population	16,452 → 16,977 (+3.2%)	1,109 → 1,654 (+49.1%)
Median household income	$39,455 → $39,939 (+1.2%)	$26,955 → $34,498 (+28.0%)
Median home value	$110,000 → $148,800 (+35.3%)	$76,000 → $112,900 (+48.6%)
Median gross rent	$685 → $867 (+26.6%)	$690 → $782 (+13.3%)

Beckley

Population

16,45216,977

Median household income

$39,455$39,939

Median home value

$110,000$148,800

Median gross rent

$685$867

Sophia

Population

1,1091,654

Median household income

$26,955$34,498

Median home value

$76,000$112,900

Median gross rent

$690$782

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Beckley	Sophia
Under 5	6.8%	5.4%
5 to 17	16.9%	10.9%
18 to 24	9.1%	13.6%
25 to 34	12.7%	9.7%
35 to 44	11.7%	8.6%
45 to 54	8.8%	12.7%
55 to 64	12.2%	17.0%
65 to 74	14.6%	10.2%
75 and over	7.1%	11.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Beckley	Sophia
White (non-Hispanic)	71.4%	95.5%
Black or African American	15.0%	4.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	2.9%	0.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.0%
Two or more races	7.8%	0.0%
Hispanic or Latino	2.8%	0.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Beckley	Sophia
No high school diploma	10.3%	25.1%
High school graduate	31.6%	29.9%
Some college or associate's	32.3%	36.8%
Bachelor's degree	15.7%	6.2%
Graduate or professional degree	10.2%	2.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Beckley	Sophia
Drove alone	82.0%	86.7%
Carpooled	8.6%	5.4%
Public transit	0.1%	0.0%
Walked	2.5%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.0%
Worked from home	3.2%	6.4%
Other means	3.5%	1.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Beckley	Sophia
1-unit, detached	75.5%	88.8%
1-unit, attached	3.2%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	4.8%	3.0%
5 to 19 units	6.9%	4.2%
20 or more units	9.3%	3.3%
Mobile home & other	0.3%	0.6%

Poverty & households

	Beckley	Sophia
Poverty rate	27.0%	25.6%
Average household size	2.25	2.31
Mean commute (minutes)	19	28
Median year structure built	1958	1969