Fayette County vs Wayne County

A side-by-side comparison of Fayette County and Wayne County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Fayette County has the higher population (39,987 vs 38,498 in Wayne County). Wayne County has the higher median household income ($55,539 vs $52,672 in Fayette County). Wayne County has the higher median home value ($124,900 vs $104,200 in Fayette County).

Population, income & housing

	Fayette County	Wayne County
Population	39,987	38,498
Median age	44.5 yrs	44.5 yrs
Median household income	$52,672	$55,539
Median home value	$104,200	$124,900
Median gross rent	$777	$883
Housing units	19,134	18,238
Homeownership rate	75.7%	77.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	16.1%	17.7%
Unemployment rate	7.1%	5.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Fayette County	Wayne County
Population	43,576 → 39,987 (-8.2%)	40,303 → 38,498 (-4.5%)
Median household income	$41,394 → $52,672 (+27.2%)	$37,988 → $55,539 (+46.2%)
Median home value	$91,300 → $104,200 (+14.1%)	$99,100 → $124,900 (+26.0%)
Median gross rent	$639 → $777 (+21.6%)	$662 → $883 (+33.4%)

Fayette County

Population

43,57639,987

Median household income

$41,394$52,672

Median home value

$91,300$104,200

Median gross rent

$639$777

Wayne County

Population

40,30338,498

Median household income

$37,988$55,539

Median home value

$99,100$124,900

Median gross rent

$662$883

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Fayette County	Wayne County
Under 5	4.8%	5.0%
5 to 17	15.8%	15.6%
18 to 24	6.7%	7.5%
25 to 34	10.8%	11.2%
35 to 44	12.3%	11.2%
45 to 54	13.2%	13.5%
55 to 64	14.1%	14.2%
65 to 74	13.5%	12.7%
75 and over	8.8%	9.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Fayette County	Wayne County
White (non-Hispanic)	91.7%	95.9%
Black or African American	4.5%	0.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.1%
Two or more races	2.2%	2.3%
Hispanic or Latino	1.3%	0.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Fayette County	Wayne County
No high school diploma	13.9%	14.7%
High school graduate	45.0%	37.6%
Some college or associate's	25.0%	30.0%
Bachelor's degree	11.1%	10.0%
Graduate or professional degree	5.0%	7.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Fayette County	Wayne County
Drove alone	77.8%	80.2%
Carpooled	11.7%	8.2%
Public transit	0.1%	0.5%
Walked	2.8%	5.6%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.1%
Worked from home	6.1%	3.9%
Other means	1.5%	1.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Fayette County	Wayne County
1-unit, detached	76.9%	72.9%
1-unit, attached	0.7%	0.3%
2 to 4 units	2.8%	3.5%
5 to 19 units	2.6%	2.3%
20 or more units	1.9%	1.2%
Mobile home & other	15.1%	19.9%

Poverty & households

	Fayette County	Wayne County
Poverty rate	18.8%	15.7%
Average household size	2.40	2.46
Mean commute (minutes)	30	25
Median year structure built	1972	1975