Crab Orchard vs Shady Spring

A side-by-side comparison of Crab Orchard and Shady Spring: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Shady Spring has the higher population (3,455 vs 1,877 in Crab Orchard). Shady Spring has the higher median household income ($70,792 vs $59,122 in Crab Orchard). Crab Orchard has the higher median home value ($208,000 vs $192,000 in Shady Spring).

Population, income & housing

	Crab Orchard	Shady Spring
Population	1,877	3,455
Median age	48.3 yrs	42.3 yrs
Median household income	$59,122	$70,792
Median home value	$208,000	$192,000
Median gross rent	—	$923
Housing units	942	1,432
Homeownership rate	88.2%	90.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	14.9%	25.5%
Unemployment rate	21.8%	6.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Crab Orchard	Shady Spring
Population	2,579 → 1,877 (-27.2%)	3,366 → 3,455 (+2.6%)
Median household income	$42,827 → $59,122 (+38.0%)	$56,316 → $70,792 (+25.7%)
Median home value	$102,500 → $208,000 (+102.9%)	$171,100 → $192,000 (+12.2%)
Median gross rent	$536 → $581 (+8.4%)	$749 → $923 (+23.2%)

Crab Orchard

Population

2,5791,877

Median household income

$42,827$59,122

Median home value

$102,500$208,000

Median gross rent

$536$581

Shady Spring

Population

3,3663,455

Median household income

$56,316$70,792

Median home value

$171,100$192,000

Median gross rent

$749$923

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Crab Orchard	Shady Spring
Under 5	1.1%	5.8%
5 to 17	17.7%	16.9%
18 to 24	9.7%	6.0%
25 to 34	6.1%	15.1%
35 to 44	14.5%	9.8%
45 to 54	6.0%	12.0%
55 to 64	16.5%	16.7%
65 to 74	13.9%	10.5%
75 and over	14.5%	7.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Crab Orchard	Shady Spring
White (non-Hispanic)	100.0%	92.3%
Black or African American	0.0%	6.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	0.0%	1.3%
Hispanic or Latino	0.0%	0.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Crab Orchard	Shady Spring
No high school diploma	18.2%	6.6%
High school graduate	46.0%	40.2%
Some college or associate's	20.9%	27.6%
Bachelor's degree	4.8%	16.7%
Graduate or professional degree	10.1%	8.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Crab Orchard	Shady Spring
Drove alone	70.8%	81.3%
Carpooled	12.5%	8.9%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	1.5%	0.9%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	15.2%	8.2%
Other means	0.0%	0.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Crab Orchard	Shady Spring
1-unit, detached	92.9%	70.9%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	1.3%
2 to 4 units	0.0%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	1.6%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.6%
Mobile home & other	5.5%	27.2%

Poverty & households

	Crab Orchard	Shady Spring
Poverty rate	19.7%	16.5%
Average household size	2.66	2.81
Mean commute (minutes)	21	28
Median year structure built	1971	1998