Barbour County vs Hardy County

A side-by-side comparison of Barbour County and Hardy County: population, income, housing, and more.

Barbour County and Hardy County are counties in West Virginia. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Barbour County has the higher population (15,454 vs 14,236 in Hardy County). Hardy County has the higher median household income ($49,302 vs $48,347 in Barbour County). Hardy County has the higher median home value ($159,700 vs $126,000 in Barbour County).

Population, income & housing

	Barbour County	Hardy County
Population	15,454	14,236
Median age	42.4 yrs	47.3 yrs
Median household income	$48,347	$49,302
Median home value	$126,000	$159,700
Median gross rent	$803	$820
Housing units	7,131	8,217
Homeownership rate	79.3%	79.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	12.2%	15.7%
Unemployment rate	10.3%	5.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Barbour County	Hardy County
Population	16,633 → 15,454 (-7.1%)	13,805 → 14,236 (+3.1%)
Median household income	$38,459 → $48,347 (+25.7%)	$47,438 → $49,302 (+3.9%)
Median home value	$110,300 → $126,000 (+14.2%)	$137,700 → $159,700 (+16.0%)
Median gross rent	$549 → $803 (+46.3%)	$755 → $820 (+8.6%)

Barbour County

Population

16,63315,454

Median household income

$38,459$48,347

Median home value

$110,300$126,000

Median gross rent

$549$803

Hardy County

Population

13,80514,236

Median household income

$47,438$49,302

Median home value

$137,700$159,700

Median gross rent

$755$820

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Barbour County	Hardy County
Under 5	4.8%	4.6%
5 to 17	15.4%	14.0%
18 to 24	11.8%	6.4%
25 to 34	10.7%	12.2%
35 to 44	10.7%	10.2%
45 to 54	12.4%	13.4%
55 to 64	13.5%	16.0%
65 to 74	12.5%	13.9%
75 and over	8.3%	9.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Barbour County	Hardy County
White (non-Hispanic)	91.1%	89.3%
Black or African American	1.7%	4.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	0.5%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.3%
Two or more races	5.2%	1.3%
Hispanic or Latino	1.2%	4.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Barbour County	Hardy County
No high school diploma	11.4%	13.4%
High school graduate	53.4%	48.1%
Some college or associate's	22.9%	22.8%
Bachelor's degree	7.7%	8.5%
Graduate or professional degree	4.6%	7.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Barbour County	Hardy County
Drove alone	82.6%	77.5%
Carpooled	5.6%	11.2%
Public transit	0.0%	0.4%
Walked	3.0%	2.5%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	6.4%	7.3%
Other means	2.4%	1.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Barbour County	Hardy County
1-unit, detached	74.2%	79.6%
1-unit, attached	0.5%	0.5%
2 to 4 units	3.8%	1.8%
5 to 19 units	2.9%	1.4%
20 or more units	0.4%	0.5%
Mobile home & other	18.1%	16.1%

Poverty & households

	Barbour County	Hardy County
Poverty rate	20.8%	17.6%
Average household size	2.53	2.39
Mean commute (minutes)	28	29
Median year structure built	1975	1984