Barbour County vs Wetzel County

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

Barbour County and Wetzel 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 14,233 in Wetzel County). Wetzel County has the higher median household income ($53,341 vs $48,347 in Barbour County). Barbour County has the higher median home value ($126,000 vs $102,800 in Wetzel County).

Population, income & housing

	Barbour County	Wetzel County
Population	15,454	14,233
Median age	42.4 yrs	45.6 yrs
Median household income	$48,347	$53,341
Median home value	$126,000	$102,800
Median gross rent	$803	$703
Housing units	7,131	7,302
Homeownership rate	79.3%	82.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	12.2%	13.5%
Unemployment rate	10.3%	5.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Barbour County	Wetzel County
Population	16,633 → 15,454 (-7.1%)	15,436 → 14,233 (-7.8%)
Median household income	$38,459 → $48,347 (+25.7%)	$43,107 → $53,341 (+23.7%)
Median home value	$110,300 → $126,000 (+14.2%)	$103,600 → $102,800 (-0.8%)
Median gross rent	$549 → $803 (+46.3%)	$703 → $703 (+0.0%)

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

Wetzel County

Population

15,43614,233

Median household income

$43,107$53,341

Median home value

$103,600$102,800

Median gross rent

$703$703

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Barbour County	Wetzel County
Under 5	4.8%	5.8%
5 to 17	15.4%	15.6%
18 to 24	11.8%	7.3%
25 to 34	10.7%	10.7%
35 to 44	10.7%	10.3%
45 to 54	12.4%	12.7%
55 to 64	13.5%	14.9%
65 to 74	12.5%	12.6%
75 and over	8.3%	10.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Barbour County	Wetzel County
White (non-Hispanic)	91.1%	94.1%
Black or African American	1.7%	0.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	0.5%	0.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.4%
Two or more races	5.2%	3.1%
Hispanic or Latino	1.2%	1.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Barbour County	Wetzel County
No high school diploma	11.4%	10.1%
High school graduate	53.4%	48.6%
Some college or associate's	22.9%	27.8%
Bachelor's degree	7.7%	8.4%
Graduate or professional degree	4.6%	5.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Barbour County	Wetzel County
Drove alone	82.6%	82.9%
Carpooled	5.6%	7.7%
Public transit	0.0%	0.1%
Walked	3.0%	3.9%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	6.4%	2.4%
Other means	2.4%	3.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Barbour County	Wetzel County
1-unit, detached	74.2%	74.6%
1-unit, attached	0.5%	0.5%
2 to 4 units	3.8%	4.4%
5 to 19 units	2.9%	2.0%
20 or more units	0.4%	2.0%
Mobile home & other	18.1%	16.6%

Poverty & households

	Barbour County	Wetzel County
Poverty rate	20.8%	16.6%
Average household size	2.53	2.37
Mean commute (minutes)	28	30
Median year structure built	1975	1963