Hardy County vs Wetzel County

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

Hardy 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.

Hardy County has the higher population (14,236 vs 14,233 in Wetzel County). Wetzel County has the higher median household income ($53,341 vs $49,302 in Hardy County). Hardy County has the higher median home value ($159,700 vs $102,800 in Wetzel County).

Population, income & housing

	Hardy County	Wetzel County
Population	14,236	14,233
Median age	47.3 yrs	45.6 yrs
Median household income	$49,302	$53,341
Median home value	$159,700	$102,800
Median gross rent	$820	$703
Housing units	8,217	7,302
Homeownership rate	79.5%	82.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.7%	13.5%
Unemployment rate	5.7%	5.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Hardy County	Wetzel County
Population	13,805 → 14,236 (+3.1%)	15,436 → 14,233 (-7.8%)
Median household income	$47,438 → $49,302 (+3.9%)	$43,107 → $53,341 (+23.7%)
Median home value	$137,700 → $159,700 (+16.0%)	$103,600 → $102,800 (-0.8%)
Median gross rent	$755 → $820 (+8.6%)	$703 → $703 (+0.0%)

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

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)

	Hardy County	Wetzel County
Under 5	4.6%	5.8%
5 to 17	14.0%	15.6%
18 to 24	6.4%	7.3%
25 to 34	12.2%	10.7%
35 to 44	10.2%	10.3%
45 to 54	13.4%	12.7%
55 to 64	16.0%	14.9%
65 to 74	13.9%	12.6%
75 and over	9.4%	10.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Hardy County	Wetzel County
White (non-Hispanic)	89.3%	94.1%
Black or African American	4.6%	0.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.4%
Two or more races	1.3%	3.1%
Hispanic or Latino	4.5%	1.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Hardy County	Wetzel County
No high school diploma	13.4%	10.1%
High school graduate	48.1%	48.6%
Some college or associate's	22.8%	27.8%
Bachelor's degree	8.5%	8.4%
Graduate or professional degree	7.2%	5.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Hardy County	Wetzel County
Drove alone	77.5%	82.9%
Carpooled	11.2%	7.7%
Public transit	0.4%	0.1%
Walked	2.5%	3.9%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	7.3%	2.4%
Other means	1.1%	3.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Hardy County	Wetzel County
1-unit, detached	79.6%	74.6%
1-unit, attached	0.5%	0.5%
2 to 4 units	1.8%	4.4%
5 to 19 units	1.4%	2.0%
20 or more units	0.5%	2.0%
Mobile home & other	16.1%	16.6%

Poverty & households

	Hardy County	Wetzel County
Poverty rate	17.6%	16.6%
Average household size	2.39	2.37
Mean commute (minutes)	29	30
Median year structure built	1984	1963