Lester vs Raleigh

A side-by-side comparison of Lester and Raleigh: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Lester has the higher population (492 vs 168 in Raleigh). Raleigh has the higher median household income ($38,950 vs $30,000 in Lester). Since 2019, Lester's population has grown faster (+8.4% vs -15.2%).

Population, income & housing

	Lester	Raleigh
Population	492	168
Median age	50.4 yrs	49.0 yrs
Median household income	$30,000	$38,950
Median home value	$81,500	—
Median gross rent	$834	—
Housing units	201	164
Homeownership rate	75.8%	100.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	12.0%	0.0%
Unemployment rate	4.2%	11.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Lester	Raleigh
Population	454 → 492 (+8.4%)	198 → 168 (-15.2%)
Median household income	$31,172 → $30,000 (-3.8%)	$37,125 → $38,950 (+4.9%)
Median home value	$73,400 → $81,500 (+11.0%)	—
Median gross rent	$861 → $834 (-3.1%)	—

Lester

Population

454492

Median household income

$31,172$30,000

Median home value

$73,400$81,500

Median gross rent

$861$834

Raleigh

Population

198168

Median household income

$37,125$38,950

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Lester	Raleigh
Under 5	4.7%	0.0%
5 to 17	26.0%	30.4%
18 to 24	8.1%	0.0%
25 to 34	4.9%	0.0%
35 to 44	2.4%	19.0%
45 to 54	7.5%	16.7%
55 to 64	24.8%	1.2%
65 to 74	13.2%	3.0%
75 and over	8.3%	29.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Lester	Raleigh
White (non-Hispanic)	80.1%	31.5%
Black or African American	7.3%	68.5%
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	12.2%	0.0%
Hispanic or Latino	0.4%	0.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Lester	Raleigh
No high school diploma	22.3%	4.3%
High school graduate	54.5%	72.6%
Some college or associate's	11.3%	23.1%
Bachelor's degree	7.3%	0.0%
Graduate or professional degree	4.7%	0.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Lester	Raleigh
Drove alone	85.0%	100.0%
Carpooled	8.0%	0.0%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	7.1%	0.0%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Lester	Raleigh
1-unit, detached	63.2%	100.0%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	0.0%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	36.8%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Lester	Raleigh
Poverty rate	50.8%	53.0%
Average household size	2.76	1.67
Mean commute (minutes)	48	—
Median year structure built	1981	1938