Hancock County vs Preston County

A side-by-side comparison of Hancock County and Preston County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Preston County has the higher population (34,204 vs 28,658 in Hancock County). Preston County has the higher median household income ($61,373 vs $61,017 in Hancock County). Preston County has the higher median home value ($157,700 vs $119,600 in Hancock County).

Population, income & housing

	Hancock County	Preston County
Population	28,658	34,204
Median age	46.8 yrs	43.2 yrs
Median household income	$61,017	$61,373
Median home value	$119,600	$157,700
Median gross rent	$766	$753
Housing units	14,218	15,215
Homeownership rate	74.6%	80.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.2%	17.9%
Unemployment rate	8.2%	6.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Hancock County	Preston County
Population	29,383 → 28,658 (-2.5%)	33,683 → 34,204 (+1.5%)
Median household income	$45,763 → $61,017 (+33.3%)	$51,888 → $61,373 (+18.3%)
Median home value	$93,000 → $119,600 (+28.6%)	$115,300 → $157,700 (+36.8%)
Median gross rent	$658 → $766 (+16.4%)	$666 → $753 (+13.1%)

Hancock County

Population

29,38328,658

Median household income

$45,763$61,017

Median home value

$93,000$119,600

Median gross rent

$658$766

Preston County

Population

33,68334,204

Median household income

$51,888$61,373

Median home value

$115,300$157,700

Median gross rent

$666$753

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Hancock County	Preston County
Under 5	4.3%	4.6%
5 to 17	14.4%	13.3%
18 to 24	6.9%	6.6%
25 to 34	11.0%	14.6%
35 to 44	11.0%	13.8%
45 to 54	13.3%	13.4%
55 to 64	15.0%	13.7%
65 to 74	14.4%	12.4%
75 and over	9.7%	7.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Hancock County	Preston County
White (non-Hispanic)	92.4%	89.3%
Black or African American	2.0%	6.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.2%
Asian	0.4%	0.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.3%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.0%
Two or more races	3.2%	1.8%
Hispanic or Latino	1.7%	1.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Hancock County	Preston County
No high school diploma	10.1%	14.2%
High school graduate	40.1%	45.7%
Some college or associate's	29.6%	22.2%
Bachelor's degree	14.9%	11.6%
Graduate or professional degree	5.3%	6.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Hancock County	Preston County
Drove alone	77.7%	75.8%
Carpooled	9.2%	14.9%
Public transit	0.3%	0.1%
Walked	1.6%	1.7%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.0%
Worked from home	8.6%	7.2%
Other means	2.6%	0.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Hancock County	Preston County
1-unit, detached	78.7%	74.9%
1-unit, attached	3.1%	1.0%
2 to 4 units	4.6%	3.1%
5 to 19 units	4.0%	3.5%
20 or more units	2.0%	0.9%
Mobile home & other	7.6%	16.5%

Poverty & households

	Hancock County	Preston County
Poverty rate	15.0%	14.1%
Average household size	2.20	2.39
Mean commute (minutes)	26	31
Median year structure built	1959	1982