Hardy County vs Lewis County

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

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

Lewis County has the higher population (16,808 vs 14,236 in Hardy County). Lewis County has the higher median household income ($52,279 vs $49,302 in Hardy County). Hardy County has the higher median home value ($159,700 vs $135,800 in Lewis County).

Population, income & housing

	Hardy County	Lewis County
Population	14,236	16,808
Median age	47.3 yrs	43.2 yrs
Median household income	$49,302	$52,279
Median home value	$159,700	$135,800
Median gross rent	$820	$737
Housing units	8,217	8,188
Homeownership rate	79.5%	70.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.7%	17.5%
Unemployment rate	5.7%	9.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Hardy County	Lewis County
Population	13,805 → 14,236 (+3.1%)	16,166 → 16,808 (+4.0%)
Median household income	$47,438 → $49,302 (+3.9%)	$39,908 → $52,279 (+31.0%)
Median home value	$137,700 → $159,700 (+16.0%)	$104,200 → $135,800 (+30.3%)
Median gross rent	$755 → $820 (+8.6%)	$648 → $737 (+13.7%)

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

Lewis County

Population

16,16616,808

Median household income

$39,908$52,279

Median home value

$104,200$135,800

Median gross rent

$648$737

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Hardy County	Lewis County
Under 5	4.6%	5.2%
5 to 17	14.0%	16.6%
18 to 24	6.4%	6.9%
25 to 34	12.2%	12.0%
35 to 44	10.2%	11.3%
45 to 54	13.4%	13.1%
55 to 64	16.0%	14.1%
65 to 74	13.9%	12.7%
75 and over	9.4%	8.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Hardy County	Lewis County
White (non-Hispanic)	89.3%	91.2%
Black or African American	4.6%	0.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.2%
Asian	0.0%	0.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.1%
Two or more races	1.3%	6.2%
Hispanic or Latino	4.5%	1.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Hardy County	Lewis County
No high school diploma	13.4%	11.6%
High school graduate	48.1%	47.1%
Some college or associate's	22.8%	23.8%
Bachelor's degree	8.5%	11.5%
Graduate or professional degree	7.2%	6.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Hardy County	Lewis County
Drove alone	77.5%	78.7%
Carpooled	11.2%	7.6%
Public transit	0.4%	0.0%
Walked	2.5%	1.7%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.5%
Worked from home	7.3%	4.8%
Other means	1.1%	6.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Hardy County	Lewis County
1-unit, detached	79.6%	71.0%
1-unit, attached	0.5%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	1.8%	2.9%
5 to 19 units	1.4%	2.3%
20 or more units	0.5%	4.2%
Mobile home & other	16.1%	19.7%

Poverty & households

	Hardy County	Lewis County
Poverty rate	17.6%	19.4%
Average household size	2.39	2.39
Mean commute (minutes)	29	30
Median year structure built	1984	1977